The Akatsuki's Hunt for the Avatar
by Villain84
Summary: The Akatsuki need more power to fuel their weapon, so they travel to the world of Avatar, to capture Avatar Aang and drain his power. Better summery included inside. My first M rated story on this site! Please Read and Review. On HOld. Not Abandoned.
1. New Target

Summary: After extracting all the taild beasts, the Akatsuki still need more power to fuel their weapon, so they travel to The World of Avatar to capture Avatar Aang and drain his power. During the adventure, they battle all the greatest forces and masters that are the Avatar's allies.

Set four years after the events of Sozin's Comet, and after the Hidan-Kakuzu Arc. Kakuzu and Hidan have successfully captured Naruto, and have brought him in to drain the Kyuubi from him, and killed many Leaf Shinobi in the process. Pain had also brought down Killer B, and has taken him in to drain the Hachibi. These are the only two jinchuriki they have left to drain. Also, in the Kazekage rescue arc, Gaara was not revived, and Sasori was not killed.

Rated M for language, violence, alcohol, character death, and some sexual content (but NO lemons). Pairings include Nagato X Konan, Canon Avatar Pairings, (Aang X Katara, Sokka X Suki, Zuko X Mai), and Hidan X June. Also very small bits of Itachi X OC and Deidara X Azula. No Yaoi.

The perspective of the story will change periodically between the Akatsuki members and the Avatar characters.

There will also be many funny and interesting omakes. Most of which star the Akatsuki, but a few will involve the Avatar characters and other Naruto characters.

This is my first M rated story here. Enjoy!

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><p>On a dark, cloudy, rainy day, somewhere an unknown mountain range, in a large, dimly lit cave hidden deep within the slope, the Large, Demonic Statue of the Outer Path had been raised, and the nine remaining members of the Akatsuki stood on each finger, leaving one middle finger empty. Each figure was shrouded in an ere green aura.<p>

Beneath the hands, being held in a torrent of blue chakra, were two more figures. One was a middle-aged man, in white clothes, shades, and had a white beard and a nice tan. The other was a younger man of about fifteen, wearing orange and black attire, with whiskers on his face and spiked yellow hair. These were the final two jinchuriki, Killer B, and Naruto Uzumaki. Once their power had been extracted, the Akatsuki were to have all the power they needed to fuel their weapons, and trigger the Fourth Shinobi World War, and win.

Extracting two jinchurikis at the same time was so difficult a task, that every member needed to be there in person rather than using holograms like they normally did. They needed to hurry and extract the final tailed beasts before their villages came to try and retrieve them. Also, they wanted to congratulate each other on their job well done.

"Say, great job, taking down the nine-tails here, Kakuzu." Deidara said at last, breaking the silence.

"Hey, shit-hole!" Hidan shouted, "I was there two!"

"Ah, yes, good job to you too, Hidan. Sorry about that." Deidara replied, his apology not sounding very sincere.

"Well, it was not easy for either of us." Kakuzu muttered. "It was just like Madara warned us. Naruto had many allies willing to protect him. He was a pest himself in our fight. Thank goodness he had not mastered anything too powerful for me to handle."

"Yeah. It was a tough fight." Hidan said in agreement. He was starting to calm down from the outburst. "I bet Lord Jashin will be very happy to have everyone we slit for a sacrifice." And then he turned to one of the thumbs. "Oh, and thanks for the small hand there, Madara. We actually kind of needed it."

"Even for shinobi as powerful as you too, I knew that Konohagakure would be no easy fight." Said the dark, mysterious man who still wore his orange mask. "I knew that if we lost you two, our mission would be a failure, and we would have lost our immortal duo all for nothing."

"LOST _THEM_?" Snapped the Deva Path of Pain from the other thumb. "You came to _their_ aid but none of you rose a finger to help me and Konan when _we_took on the eight tails?"

Nagato himself was in the corner of the cave, strapped up in his throne that held him together, which was placed near the cordless refrigerator. The five other paths were safely locked up in plant pods that Zetsu had summoned. Nagato was not concious because his energy was being channeled to the Deva Path. Although tears were streaming down his face, as well as that of the Deva Path.

"You all left me and Konan to the wrath of the eight tails!" He cried out in rage. "And now Konan is _dead_! Now the _last_ person who _ever_ mattered to me is_gone_!" He began to sob some more. After a minute, the Deva Path began to recollect himself. "This is the third time in my life I have ever felt Pain." He said softly.

"Admit it, Pain, you loved Konan." Said Deidara, somewhat mockingly. "It's so obvious by now."

"She was like a sister to me." Pain wept. "I promised Yahiko I would take care of her."

"Well, I'm going to miss her myself." Kisame spoke up. "She was the most silent of us, but she was also the only female member of the organization. Without her, I think we're all going to look like a bunch of sexist pricks."

"Hm. I never thought of it that way." Deidara nodded.

"Pretty much everyone on this continent hate us because of our crimes." Sasori hissed. "Are you all really that concerned if they think we're sexists?" Sasori was standing there in his own body, not hidden in one of his puppets like he normally was.

"I guess that's a good point, Sasori." Said Deidara.

"Try not to think about it, Pain." Itachi said to Pain, in a warm, comforting voice. "Your closest friends may be gone, but you still have something to live for, right? What about that dream you all shared about bringing the world to a steady peace? The dream we're all working together to achieve here?"

"Yes." Pain sneered. "I will bring about peace, for Yahiko and Konan."

There was another moment of silence before Kakuzu spoke up. "Say guys, lets not forget. We are very close to achieving our goal here. How about after we are finished here, why don't we head off to a bar in the nearest village to celebrate? My treat."

"Wow. Drinks on Kakuzu. This must be special!" cackled Hidan.

"That certainly sounds like fun." Deidara announced. "I'm kind of in a partying mood myself."

"I could go for a drink I suppose." Said Sasori.

"Sure. Why not." Said Zetsu.

"Oh, wait I got another idea!" Hidan started laughing. "What if at the bar we all got really drunk, so we decided to pillage and destroy the village."

"Oh, yeah! That would be awesome!" Deidara giggled. "And during the killing spree, what if we found some hot women and hooked up with them?"

"Screw hooking up with them." Hidan cackled. "Let's just _rape_ them! Rape and Pillage? Ha!"

"Hmm, a rape-and-killing spree. Sounds like a real party!" Kisame chuckled as a large grin spread across his face.

"Who knows," White Zetsu said. "Perhaps getting laid will cheer you up, Pain."

Pain did not respond to Zetsu's comment.

"We can rob and mug everyone who looks worth while." Kakuzu added, his eyes liting up.

After recovering from his excitement a little, Hidan spoke again. "And then in the end, when we were done slaughtering people, or when too much security picks up, what if the boss here did his Shinra Tensei [Almighty Push] jutsu to blow the whole village to Hell? Will that be sick or what?"

"Why should Pain be the one to do it?" Deidara snapped, annoyed. "Why don't you allow a true artist to finish off the village?"

"Oh please." groaned Sasori.

"Come on, Sasori. Even you have to admit I'd finish off that village with more style than he would."

"I don't know." Hidan taunted. "I've seen Pain use that technique once before. It was pretty destructive."

"What do you know about Art, Hidan?" Deidara snapped back at him, "You stick to worshipping Jashin!"

"Shut it, cockhole." Hidan laughed. He then decided to get off the argument. "So it's decided then? When we're done here, it's party time?"

"Very well." Said Madara. "One party of pillaging, and then we begin on with our true campaign; taking over this ninja world." Madara took another minute, possibly to imagine his upcoming victory. "Finally, I will achieve the status I was meant to have. I shall become this world's overlord, no, its God!"

"And then we will bring about peace to the world by controlling them with hate and fear." Pain added.

"Say, Itachi, what about your little brother, Sasuke?" Kisame added.

"Whatever our organization goes through," Itachi answered, without changing his facial expression, "Sasuke must kill me. I must die at his feet. For that, he will have avenged our clan, and I will have given him the fullest power of the Mangekyo Sharingan. Or at least he thinks he will have."

"So, even he will be living under a lie under our reign?" Madara asked.

"Madara, I beg you." Itachi pleaded. "Do not tell Sasuke the truth. If he knows I slaughtered our clan because I was assigned to, he will never break out of his cycle of hate and revenge."

Madara did not seem to answer. He did not say anything, and his mask hid his face. Madara knew that Itachi loved his brother more than any other being in the world, that Itachi had sacrificed everything for him. That Itachi only wanted what was best for him.

"I just hope Sasuke doesn't end you before I have a final sparring match against you, Itachi." Deidara interjected, breaking the silence. "I've been working on my art, and my immunity to genjutsu, just for this, getting ready to go up against you and prove that I'm the better artist."

"Sure thing, Deidara." Itachi answered, with a slight hint of a smile. "I'll be happy to face off against you any time."

"Hey, why don't you settle it after the pillage?" Hidan shouted, "A little after-party, ya know?"

"What do you say, Deidara? After the pillage?" Itachi asked.

"Sure. Let's do it! I'll be all fired up for it!" Deidara smirked.

"Alright. I think we're almost done!" Shouted Black Zetsu.

Kakuzu looked down at the handsome boy with bright yellow hair that they were draining. He remembered the determined faces of all the leaf shinobi he and Hidan fought. "This boy meant a lot to the people of the leaf I suspect." He spoke. "Everyone fought so hard to protect him. And he was such a talented boy too. He must have done a lot for his village. Fought very hard for them. He was on his way to becoming a very skilled, well known shinobi. Truely, this is a dark day for Konohagakure."

He imagined all the sad, possibly crying faces of all the people in the village who would miss Naruto, how devastated they all were with his passing. And then the was reminded that it was more than likely that most of them were probably on their way to the hideout right now to stop them and try to save him. No need to worry though. If anyone was coming, Zetsu's jutsu would warn them. And thus far, they had received no warning of intruders.

"It's also a dark day for Kumogakure, and pretty much the whole world." Kisame snickered.

"True." Kakuzu replied.

At last, the purple rays of chakra streaming from Killer B's face cut off, and the last of it was pulled into the statue's mouth. And next, Naruto's chakra followed.

"That's it!" Zetsu announced. "That's all of it!"

Slowly, the blue ring of chakra holding up the corpses also receded back into the statue's mouth. As it did so, the bodies were dropped carelessly onto the ground. They landed lifelessly. Both Killer B and Naruto Uzumaki were dead. The akatsuki members stopped imputing chakra into the statue, and their green auras soon faded. And then they jumped down from their fingers to face the statue. Not all the eyes of the statue were open all the way. A few were still closed. Everyone just sat in silence, waiting for something to happen.

"So, what happens now?" Deidara asked, breaking the silence. "Is it suppose to glow or come to life or something?"

Madara jumped up to the collar of the statue, and lifted his hand to where the adam's apple was, feeling it. After another second. He pulled away and faced the others. "Well, it appears I have miscalculated." He said, evident disappointment in his voice.

"What do you mean?" Kakuzu asked, annoyed.

"Well, it seems the statue is only half full."

Immediately, everyone's mouths dropped and hit the floor.

Hidan was the first to respond. "WHAT? _HALF_ FULL? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?"

"Well, actually its more like at seventy percent, but half full makes it sound more frustrating." Madara answered, hiding a slight chuckle.

"This isn't funny!" Kakuzu hissed. "It's really frustrating that we killed all the jinchurikis, did all that hard work, and its still not enough!"

"Believe me." Pain answered. "I'm frustrated too. I think we all are." And then his voice trailed off into saddness as he remembered something. "Now it really does feel like we lost Konan for nothing."

Suddenly, he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. Pein turned to see that it was Itachi's. He faced him, as well as Kisame and Sasori, who were looking at him compassionately. Their looks helped cheer him up a little.

"But seriously." Sasori said. "We have absorbed all of the jinchurikis, hence all the tailed beasts. Where are we going to find another power source that is equal to three of those?"

"I... I'm not sure, exactly." Madara faced down, away from the group.

They all took a minuted to think about what to do. They had all worked so hard, and their victory was so close, they could taste it. And now all of a sudden, in only two minutes, all of their worked seemed in vein, and they did not know what to do next. Was that what it all was? In vein? Useless? The organization's goals, as well as their own personal goals they have been striving for. Were they all lost?

Perhaps not! Suddenly, Kakuzu got an idea.

"I got it!" He exclaimed. Everyone turned to him.

"Upon my travels, I remember once or twice, as I stopped at an inn, bar, or restaurant, that I've met travelers from a different world. A different continent, you might say. From the other side of the world."

"And?" Madara beckoned for him to go on.

"I have spoken to a few of them, had them describe their world to me, and they have talked about a very powerful warrior, though not necessarily a shinobi, they said, that has mastery of all five elements nature transformation, or four rather since they do not count Lightning."

"Is that all this warriror can do?" Hidan whined.

"No. I think there is more to him. They say he is gifted with the powers of an alternative realm very distant from that of the human realm. I suppose you could say this realm is like Mount Myoboku, or the Shinigami's realm and other spiritual homing grounds we know of. They call it the Spirit World I think. And I believe this warrior is known as... the Avatar."

"Well, sounds like as good of a chance as any to get more power for our statue here." Deidara spoke up. "I say traveling to this realm and catching this Avatar is worth a shot."

"Is that all you know about him, Kakuzu?" Madara asked.

"Yes." Kakuzu replied. "But of course, not all of it could be accurate. There's always that chance."

"Sounds pretty accurate to me." Sasori shrugged.

"Alright." Madara stood up straight so that the others could see here clearly. "Akatsuki's next target is... The Avatar."

"So, does this mean no party?" Hidan asked.

"Sorry Hidan." Madara answered. "I fear the party will have to wait."

Frustrated, because they were both looking forward to that party, Hidan and Deidara both shouted in unison "FUCK!"

**Author's Note: Well, that's the first chapter to a story I've been dying to get started on. I love Naruto and Avatar, and I love the Akatsuki. I hope everyone who read this story enjoyed it, and I hope those who did will review and/or subscribe. Thank You.**

**Only thing is it may be a while before I can update this story. I have a few other stories to get going on before I get back to this.**


	2. A World at Peace

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, Aang stood atop a towering mountain, looking down on a wide range of grasslands, forests, and smaller mountains and hills. Clouds were drifting along with the wind below him. The sun was setting, so the whole land was shaded in a darkening orange. He was dressed in his typical tunic that he wore after his first outfit was destroyed in the capture of Ba Sing Se. He had kept his bald appearance, as a traditional air nomad monk. The cold air and wind nipped at him, but he did not seem to mind. He was standing up straight, his eyes closed, hands at his sides. At last, he took a deep breath, breathing in the fresh mountain air, and exhaled peacefully.

At last, Aang raised his arms in front of him, shifted his legs, and steadied himself into a Ba Gua airbending stance, and opended his eyes. It was time to give his training a little test.

He stomped onto the mountain with his left foot, jabbed out his left arm out in an uppercut. The earth on the left side of the slim mountain began to rise up. Aang then stomped his right foot and jabbed a right uppercut, doing the same to the left side of the mountain. Next, he stood in a warrior pose, commanding the two new hills to even out. Aang ran to the left side of the mountain and leaped off, plummeting headfirst towards the left hill. The air rushed past him as gravity pushed him faster towards the giant rock, but he showed no signs of fear, only relaxation.

At last, he spun around to keep his feet strait, then crouched down just as he hit the hill, and seconds as he did so, he slammed his right fist into the stone, cushioning his fall, and making a slight crater in the mountain. He stood up quickly, uninjured by the fall, and raised his arms again to keep the hill rising. Next, he waved his arms downward and conjured an air scooter. He hopped onto the spinning ball of winds, and rode it along the slope of the mountain. As he rode, he used his earthbending again to smooth a path that people could walk on if need be. He had reached the level were he could bend nearby earth without coming into physical contact with it.

He bent ramps, steps, and a few more platforms, as well as smoothing out some of the other rough spots on the slope. It was tiring work. Despite his training, how he had built his body to withstand such tasks. By the time he reached the bottom of the hill, he had started sweating. Still, he had to continue with his task at hand. He spun around on his ball, and bolted around the side of the hill, around the mountain, and finally to the base of the second hill.

He repeated his process. He used earth bending again to clear a path. It was harder this time, because he was working upwards, against the push of gravity. But he continued to push forward until after another few minutes, he reached the top of the second hill, a full path reaching all the way from the bottom of the hill to the top. He then concentrated his energy on the air around and under him from below the hill, until he finally felt a strong gust of wind lift him up. This was a technique known as Air Spouting.

He shot himself back up to the top of the mountain in between the hills, and gently let himself down on the top again. He then stomped on the top, and pounded his fist into it, creating a large crater, or basin, as he was about to call it. He then leaped up onto the side of the basin, and took a minute to take a deep breath, and calm his rushing chi. He then looked up to the sky. He had learned to conjure water out of thin air by collecting the water particles in it. He also knew how to take it from nearby clouds if need be.

Using a combination of water and air bending, Aang waved his arms around, as if in an elegant dance, and caused a small cluster of coulds and air to press together. He then separated all the water from the air, and so he was holding up a huge bubble of water, floating in the air. He gently set the water into the basin, though it was so much, it was immediately overflowing. Water trickled off the sides of the basin and down the sides of the mountain. The platforms that Aang had bended in the earth earlier formed cataracts, pools, and waterfalls from with the water. Eventually, the water reached the hills, and slipped down with the same results.

One last touch. Aang took another stomp on the moutain, and channeled his chi deep into the earth, until he found the smoldering hot magma. Using a combination of fire and earth bending, he jabbed two uppercuts with both arms, steadily reaching up from below. He was commanding the magma to flow upward toward the surface, until it filled the crevices and cores of the mountain and the hills. Before it could flow to far and outward to penetrate the surface, Aang was sure to stomp again and close off the leaks that could allow such flowing. The magma was trapped within the mountain, but it was enough to steadily heat the pools and basins Aang had created, though he was also sure to leave a few cold.

Finally, Aang took a deep breath, and straightened up to a normal standing position. He was done. He took a peek over the side of the mountain to see what he had accomplished. He had created a beautiful new addition to this land that would soon become a nifty tourist attraction. These hills had hiking trails, pools, hot springs, and water slides.

_Water slides_. As that last word crossed his mind, Aang began running down the trail until he found a slide with flowing water and hopped in. He rushed down with the water, a layer of mud making the slide slippery enough to avoid any injury. Aang laughed with glee as he continued to rush down the slide. At last, he splashed into a warm pool about five feet deep, though he did not roughly hit himself on anything.

He pushed himself to the surface, and again burst out laughing. After taking in some air again, he kicked himself back onto the edge of the pool, and sat down, finally settling down. He looked about his surroundings for a second, enjoying the great view. He also noticed a few plants laying around, including a peach tree on the other side of the pool. He beat his challenge! He created new hills without upsetting the plants or wildlife on the mountain.

Aang layed back and looked up at the sky with satisfaction. Suddenly, Momo, his little lemur friend flew in, and landed in the pool with a splash, drenching Aang again.

"Ha! Good one Momo!" Aang laughed as Momo popped his head above the surface. The little lemur chattered and paddled up to Aang's side, and Aang gave his head a little pat. "So, how did I do?"

"You did very well Aang." A new voice answered. Startled, Aang looked up to face the spirit of Avatar Roku, levitating just inches above the water.

"Oh, hey Roku." Aang greeted his mentor.

"Hello. Yes. You did very well here. You have created an amazing new feature for this land and the people in it without upsetting the animals and plants here. You managed to keep a good balance here. Nicely done."

"And nice job on the hot spring if I do say so myself." Said another voice jokingly. Aang and Roku turned to face the spirit of Monk Gyatso, taking a dip in the pool, Aang's airbending master. Aang was so happy to see the man who was the closest to a father he ever had. He was also grateful to Guru Pathik, who had helped him master his spiritual energy to communicate with the dead. Now Aang was able to speak with one of the most important people in his life again. A smile spread across Aang's face as he looked upon his calm master.

"Hi Gyatso." Aang said. He looked over at the peach tree for a second, staring at the enticing fruits. He waved his hand in a fast motion, letting loose a gust of air that cut down two peaches. Before they hit the ground, he used a pulling motion to make the peaches fly over towards him. He caught both of them in his hands, passed on to Momo, and chomped down into the other, tasting the sweet, tough skin mixed with the juicy insides.

"Good afternoon to you too, my old pupil." Gyatso smiled back. He was still the same friendly face Aang had known over a hundred years ago.

"I must say, Aang," Roku spoke up. "I am quite impressed that you have mastered the abilities of the Avatar to the amazing extend you have at such a young age."

"Well, I owe it all to my friends and amazing teachers." Aang replied after swallowing his peach. "I mean I had Pakku, Bumi, and Jeong-Jeong for the basic stuff about the elements, and Katara, Toph, and Zuko for the more advanced stuff. Of course I had you for Air, Gyatso. And I also had Guru Pathik for the spirit world and Avatar stuff, oh, plus you, Roku."

"And let's not forget the island lion turtle." Gyatso laughed.

"And him, yeah." Aang joined in his laugh.

"Indeed, you have mastered so much at such a young age," Roku continued. "And accomplished so much as well. Four years ago, you brought the hundred-years war to an end, and brought peace and prosperity back to the world."

"And then helped everyone who suffered recover from the war." Gyatso added. "Everything seems to be going great."

"And I assure you Aang, no one is more proud of you than I am." Said Roku in a proud voice.

"That is wrong, Aang." Gyatso exclaimed. "You cannot imagine how proud I am for you."

"Thanks guys." Aang replied happily. "Like I said. I couldn't have done any of it without you, or any of my friends."

Roku and Gyatso glanced back at each other and smiled, both were so happy and proud for their pupil. Aang had come so far from being that goofy little boy running around the southern air temple. He was still a goofball at times, still running around, and loved having fun, but that was part of who he was, and some habits never die hard. As the Avatar, one might expect him to be acting more mature and maintain control at age sixteen, but again, Aang was not usually the serious type. And now, the world had been at complete peace for four years now, aside from a few petty crimes by people who were just downright rotten, but that was no big deal, especially since those people were usually dealt with by authority. There was no really need for Aang to be serious. Everyone in the world was happy, and so was he.

"Well then, we just wanted to check in with you." Roku said at last, breaking the silence. "Again Aang, we are so proud of you. I have every confidence that this world will remain in peace with you watching over it. Keep up the good work." And with that, Roku's spirit evaporated into the sky.

"And also, nice job on these hills here." Gyatso added. "It is a sign of how far your bending has come, how much of a master you are now. Goodbye now, my dear boy." And his spirit followed Roku's.

Aang watched his mentor's spirits flow up and vanish. He was happy that his mentor's were so proud of him. He took one final bite of his peach, finishing it down to the pit, which he tossed over the edge of the mountain, letting it tumble down the rocks. Momo was still nibbling on his.

Suddenly, a large lump of white furr rose up over the rocks, and a pair of wide brown eyes turned to Aang. The beast gave a deep, friendly huff.

"Appa!" Aang exclaimed, happy to see his big buddy. "Hey. Here, have some peaches." Aang made his slicing movement with his hand again, cutting down four more peaches, and made them fly into Appa's mouth. He chomped down on them happily. When he was finished, he gave another huff, slightly louder and with a sense of urgency. Just then, Aang figured out what he was trying to say.

"Oh, right. We're going to be late!" Aang chuckled, not rushing as much as he should probably. He hopped out of the water, and used an airbending move to dry himself off. He then did a flying leap and landed on the back of Appa's head. "Come on Momo!" He called out. Looking over to him, passed his unfinished peach to his teeth, then hopped out of the water and shook himself dry as he could before gliding over to Aang's side.

"Yip yip, buddy!" Aang exclaimed as he held the reins tied to Appa's horns. Appa turned his head with a groan, and started flying out westward. As they flew off, Aang could not help but glance off down over the land below them. The sun was really setting now, and the land was bathed in a dark red. The sky was quickly darkening to blue, and dozens amongst hundreds of stars had begun to sparkle. Aang knew there would be many more later. Despite how much he did it, flying would always be a thrilling experience to him, especially when there was nothing else troubling him.

But he could not go to these meetings in the clothes he wore at the moment, so he jumped back onto the air nomad saddle that Appa usually wore, where he found his pack and his staff that the Mechanist made for him. He went through his bag, and found what he was looking for; his formal avatar outfit that he wore at special occasions, the one he wore the day after the war was over. He quickly changed his clothes, the breeze chilling him briefly, and sat back down on Appa's head when he was done, ready to enjoy the rest of the ride.

* * *

><p>At last, after about an hour of flying, he arrived at the Fire Lord's palace in the Fire Nation capitol. Appa gently landed on a balcony that overlooked over the city all the way to the ocean. As he hopped off of Appa, he was greeted by a familiar voice.<p>

"You're late, Twinkle Toes." Smirked Toph as she walked out from behind a pillar onto the balcony. "Come on. Everyone's starving."

"Right, sorry." Aang scratched the back of his head awkwardly. He followed Toph down the brilliantly decorated hallway of the Fire Nation Palace.

Toph, now sixteen like him, still looked about the same as she had four years ago, only now she was a little taller, and still usually wore the same style of clothes, but tonight, she was wearing a green silk robe which she was almost comfortable in. When the war was over, Aang and the gang brought her home to see her mother and father again, and they could not be more happy or proud. After hearing of how their daughter fought in the war, they finally understood how strong she was, and how she could take care of herself. They still loved their precious daughter, and were overjoyed to have her back. Eventually, Toph became the new instructor for Master Yu's academy, after Master Yu had "disappeared", and were training her new pupils to become earthbenders just as great as she was. Now, everyone in the world who knew Aang knew Toph was the greatest earthbender in the world. Young earthbenders from all over the Earth king traveled to Gaoling to learn from her.

"So, how did your workout go today?" She asked finally.

"Great." Aang replied. "I lifted a new set of mountains up, and made them into hot springs! They all turned out great!"

"I'll be the judge of that when I see these mountains." Toph smirked.

They soon came to a round doorway with a red curtain to conceal the room. A guard with a sturdy-looking spear stood at the entrance. He wore a traditional fire nation guard armor, and had a grey goatee.

"Welcome back, Master Aang." The guard said kindly. "Everyone's waiting for you." And he stood to the left to let Aang and Toph in.

Past the curtain, in long room with pillars supporting the ceiling at letting the viewers look outside at the city, was a long mahogany table, about seven seats long on each side, at which sat Aang's closest friends who cheered at the sight of him. At the far end of the table sat Firelord Zuko. At his left was his first lady, Mai, next to Iroh who was sipping some tea, and to his right, his mother, Ursa.

Zuko had told Aang and everyone else the story of his mother, how to protect Zuko from his power-hungry dick of a father, Ozai, she murdered Firelord Azulon, and was banished to the Chin Village in the Earth Kingdom. After Zuko found out all of this from the imprisoned Ozai, Zuko left for the village in secret, and found his mother living there, alive, healthy, and living in peace, though she had not remarried. Zuko had brought her home to the Fire Nation, and she became his most trusted advisor, and also befriended Aang and everyone else. Aang liked her a lot. He was glad that Zuko had someone like her for a mother. They had also spoken from time to time about Roku. Ursa also visited Azula in her asylum occasionally. The site of her mother, feeling her touch again, helped Azula start to regain her sanity, though she was not quite there yet.

At the right of the table, sitting closest to Aang, was Aang's own beautiful wife, Katara, to whom he had been married about a year ago when they were both old enough to do so. She was wearing her hair in loops like she had done a long time ago, though behind, her hair was a worn longer. She wore an elegant blue water tribe dress that she wore for such occasions. She was smiling at Aang. After her seat was a basket hanging from a hook on three wooden legs. A cradle.

After the cradle was Katara and Sokka's father, Hakoda, then Sokka. Sokka was eyeing and drooling over a large, juicy-looking lobster that was placed in front of him. What idiot waiter put that in front of Sokka? Next to Sokka, holding him back from attacking the lobster with a firm hand was Sokka's wife, Suki, the captain of the Kyoshi warriors. They were married about a month after the war ended, though they still stayed with their home villages, as they still had duties there, but visited each other as often as they could. In between Suki and Ursa was Lan, one of the other Kyoshi warriors, who had raven black hair with sideburns. She was sitting down, apparently talking to Ty Lee who was standing up before Aang and Toph entered.

After seeing them enter and cheering, Ty Lee did a little acrobatic flip on her hands across the table, and took her seat next to Iroh. Aang always thought she looked rather cute in the kyoshi warrior outfit. She had joined the kyoshi warriors right after the war ended, and had loved her life more then ever since. It was kind of ironic; after growing up with six identical sisters, and having a fear of not being noticed in a matched set, she was a matched set now, and did not really seem to care.

On Ty Lee's left was an empty seat that was saved for Toph, which she was making for now. Next to that was Master Pakku, who now was the ambasador for the Northern Water Tribe as well as the greatest water bending teacher it had to offer. After Pakku was King Bumi, then The now re-appointed Earth King, and finally, squeezed in at the corner closes to Aang, was Captain Shang, the new leader of the Dai Li. Bosco the bear was also napping a few feet behind the Earth King's seat.

The Earth King had told everyone of his a Bosco's adventures through the Earth Kingdom after the fall of Ba Sing Se, and how after the war ended, he returned and took the thrown back again, and ruled his city and kingdom wisely ever since. He had taken the Dai Li back, and appointed Captain Shang the leader of the force. Shang was a wise and strong military leader, as well as a powerful earth bender. He was about thirty years of age, had a well-shaved face, square chin, short black hair, and a rather muscular body. He was loyal to the Earth King, and obeyed every command given without question, and never kept secrets from him. Ever. Whenever the Dai Li did something, they had the King's consent.

Aang was happy to see so many smiling faces around him, all faces who have helped him through the war. Now they all met here in the Fire Nation capitol every three months to discuss worldly matters, and otherwise socialize. Someone from a general area of the world was present to discuss how things were in that part of the world, and if there were any problems, they all talked out a solution to take. Of course they did not always meet in the Firelord's palace. Sometimes it was in the Earth Palace of Ba Sing Se, sometimes Bumi's grand hall, sometimes the Northern tribe conference room, etc.

"It's great to finally see you here Aang." Ursa said with a smile, breaking Aang's thoughts.

"Yeah, now we can eat!" Sokka exclaimed as Suki released her grip on his collar and he stabbed his chopsticks into the lobster, taking a large chunk of it. And soon, everyone else was reaching for the enticing foods on the table, taking some of them and passing them around.

Before taking his seat, Aang walked over to Katara's left side, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "How's everything going babe?" He put his hand on her shoulder.

"Great." Katara smiled back at him and held his hand down.

After another second, Aang gently pulled away from her and turned to the basket. Inside was a little bundle of white cloth.

"He's awake." Katara said.

Aang gingerly lifted the cloth folding over, and looked upon the little face of his and Katara's six-month old son, Tenzin. He had a light shade of short dark hair on his scalp which was just barely starting to grow. His eyes were a shade of blue as deep and beautiful as the ocean blue, just like his mother. He was not one of those fat, chubby babies, he was the skinner kind, the one with cheeks not as chubby. He giggled at the sight of his father.

"Hi there, little buddy." Aang tickled Tenzin's cheek with his finger. "How was your day?" Aang loved his son as much as any good father would. He played with him every day he was home with him in the southern water tribe. He always looked out for him, keeping him out of trouble. He and Katara took great care of him, making sure he had a great life in the tribe. You have never seen a happier family of three. Sokka himself was happy to be Tenzin's uncle. I am sure you can all imagine how goofy and clumsy of an uncle Sokka was. Hakoda was proud to be a grand parent. And so, Tenzin loved his whole family.

Although they were a little underaged to have children so early, Aang and Katara did not really care for those rules or what people would think of them after, and had Tenzin anyway. And they did well as parents thus far. Tenzin was happy and healthy. He had also been found out to be capable of airbending. The day they found out such was a very happy day for Aang. He could not wait for Tenzin to grow up. When he did, Aang would teach his son his airbending techniques, so that Tenzin would carry on the traditions and skills and arts of airbending. Perhaps maybe they would even play airball one day.

"I'll feed him." Katara's cheerful voice broke into his thoughts like a hot knife through butter. "You go sit down."

So Aang slowly walked around Katara's chair and took his seat at the end of the table, right across from Zuko at the other end of the table, and began taking some salad from in front of him, and rice from a bowl that Shang passed to him.

* * *

><p>The meal continued for about half an hour.<p>

"So, your majesty, how is everything overall in the Earth Kingdom?" Hakoda asked the Earth King.

"Oh, wonderful." He replied. "I'd say reconstruction in most of area is just about done. Just a few villages have sent in requests for supplies, most of which Ba Sing Se can provide ourselves. Except we could use a little more metal. Eh, Shang, did you mail those request forms for metal to the Fire Nation here?" He turned to Shang.

"Of course I did, your highness." Shang replied proudly. "Fire Lord Zuko, sir, did your sources receive such letters?"

"We did. And the Fire Nation would be more than happy to get rid of our ample supply of metal."

"Super!" Bumi exclaimed. "Looks like everyone's happy."

"Say, Bumi, does Omashu need anything? Anything at all?" The Earth King asked him.

"No thanks." Bumi replied. "Everything's all fine in Omashu."

"Okay then."

"How are things at the north pole, Master Pakku?" Katara asked her step-grandfather.

"Excellent." He replied happily. "Whatever damage was done during the siege four years ago has been restored. And women are still being taught everything men can learn."

"And how's Chief Arnook?" Sokka asked.

"He's getting along okay." Pakku started to sound more sad and compassionate. "He misses Yue still, and he has still not yet found a new successor."

"I'm sure he'll find someone." Aang said happily. "He strong and healthy. He still has time, right?"

"That is true."

There was a moment of silence to remember Princess Yue. How she had given her life to the moon spirit, and became his reincarnation. Sokka sulked the most as he remembered how he lost his first girlfriend. Despite everyone telling him that it was not his fault, he still blamed himself. He was very happy with Suki, but he still remembered Yue from time to time.

Finally, Katara broke the silence. "How's Gran-Gran?" She asked Pakku.

"She is doing fine." Pakku's smile returned as he remembered his love. "She's quite happy, and is doing well as Arnook's new advisor. Pakku remembered four years ago when he returned to the south pole with a fleet of other water benders to help rebuild the southern tribe. They had done a great job at doing so, increasing the population of the southern tribe. They had also used water bending to rebuild the village itself, and now it was just as large and striving as it had been years ago before the fire nation invaded.

During that time, Pakku met Kanna, and she had seen that he was a changed man now. He was not the stubborn, sexist man she had known years ago when they got engaged. He was a much better person. Of course, Pakku still had strong feelings for her. They spent time together during the rebuilding period, and eventually, he proposed to her, and also made her a new necklace, and this time, she said yes. After the war was over, she left with him back for the northern water tribe, leaving Hakoda as the new chief and leader of the southern tribe.

"You know, she would love to have a visit from her great grand-child some time soon." Pakku said. "She is truly impressed that she is a great grandmother, and wishes she could see Tenzin more often."

"Tenzin loves his great gran-gran too. Don't you little one?" Katara smiled at her child in the cradle and fed him another spoonful of sweetened rice. Hakoda smiled as he watched her do so.

"So what about you, Sokka?" Hakoda asked his son. "Think you and Suki might be having kids yourselves sometime soon?"

"Dad! That's kind of personal." Sokka snapped, with a bit of whining. Suki was blushing a bit behind him.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Hakoda replied awkwardly. "I just thought I'd ask." He did not really mean to intrude on his son's privacy. He just wanted to go along with the conversation.

"But seriously Suki, when do you want to have kids?" Sokka asked when he was done stuffing his face for a second.

"When we can both get away from our duties for long enough." She shrugged.

"Well, when will that be?"

"How about we wait for next summer, then we go on a romantic vacation somewhere, just the two of us." She nudged up against him.

"But that's so far away!" He whined.

"It's just seven months." Katara said naggingly. "I'm sure you'll survive."

"Don't you think your hands are already full with Tenzin?" Aang laughed.

"Oh, right." Sokka grumbled.

"Speaking of which, I actually have something to say." Zuko announced standing up. A proud smile spread across his face as he stepped over to Mai's side, and put a hand on her shoulder. Everyone's attention turned to them, waiting for the news.

"A couple of days ago, our doctor did a check-up on her, and, well... Mai's pregnant."

After a second of silence, everyone cheered and started clapping.

"Yeah! Way to go, Zuko!" Sokka cheered.

"Oh my god! That's awesome!" Ty Lee exclaimed. "Have you guys thought of any cute baby names yet? Oh, you know what we should do? We should have a baby shower!"

"Well, I just hope it goes better than the one we had for Katara." said Suki after taking a bite of rice. "That one was a disaster." She rolled back her eyes, remembering the fire.

"I liked it." Katara said. "I think it all worked out in the end. It was cute."

"Am I the only one who thinks its a bit weird that Aang and Katara had a kid before Zuko and Mai?" Toph asked.

"I think they wanted to savor their marriage until just the right time to have children." Iroh answered her. "That is what my wife and I did for two years before we had our son."

"Well, I'm sure Zuko and Mai wanted to do, you know... that thing, for a long time."

"-Let's not discuss that at the table." Iroh shushed her, leaving her to mutter angrily about manners.

* * *

><p>Everyone continued chatting and laughing about reconstruction and life in general for a while, and shared many laughs during it. After dinner, there was a delicious cake and some Jasmin tea for desert, and everyone got a peice to enjoy, but Aang was not hungry. He left the table for a moment, not really being noticed by any one other than Katara.<p>

He went back through the hallway, and out to the balcony where Appa sat. He gave his big buddy a pat on the nose, as Momo hopped down himself for one. After petting them both, Aang walked over to the railing and looked outward. The full moon had risen now, and hundreds of stars twinkled in the sky along with it. In the far distance, the dark blue ocean rippled peacefully, empty, as the moon's glow shimmered down the center. Aang's eyes looked down at the city below the mountains. The people were all wandering about the streets, minding their own business. Everyone had a happy face on, and a few laughed and greeted friends passing by. At last, with all the hatred between nations destroyed, these people could live happily again, without fear of an attack or bombing.

Aang looked to the sky again. All was well in the universe. In his recent visits with the spirits, they all seemed happy, and had no complaints.

"Is you okay Aang?" Aang heard Katara's voice come in. He knew her voice anywhere. "He slowly turned to face her. A bundled up Tenzin cradled in her arms.

"I have never been better, Katara." Aang smiled at her confidently.

"Oh, that's good." Katara's smile returned as she was reassured. She carefully placed Tenzin on Appa's head. Little Tenzin crawled out from his bundle, and held on tight to Appa's fur, though careful not to pluck or pull it too much. He had done that before, and learned quickly from it. Momo hopped onto the top of Appa's head and started to play with Tenzin. Tenzin loved both of the family pets. Riding Appa was always fun for him. So was playing paddy cake and rolling balls around and such with Momo.

"It's just so great, don't you think?" Aang continued. "Just look at how broken and destroyed the world was four years ago. And now look, all the nations are working together and living together in peace. Everyone's life is back on track. None of the spirits are complaining. All is right in the universe."

"I know." Katara walked up to his side. "Everything does seem right in the world. You have done an amazing job, Avatar." She smiled and blushed at him. "And now that the world is in peace, that gives us more time together."

"I love you, Katara." Aang said suddenly, his dark brown eyes looking into her blue ones. He had said it many times, just as she did now.

"I love you too, Aang." She put her hands on his cheeks as he put his arms around her waist, and pulled each other in for a deep kiss, tongues slipping in and tickling each other. Each moaned in approval. After another second, they pulled away and just stared at each other again.

"Hey lovebirds!" Sokka's voice suddenly interrupted them. "I know you guys are madly in love, but we all kind of wanna go home!"

"Right, sorry." Aang turned to him and chuckled. They had flown in Toph and the Kyoshi warriors because they were part of the team, The Earth King, Bosco and Captain Shang because the King loved riding Appa, and Bumi because they were already in the Earth Kingdom. And of course they flew with Hakoda and Sokka because they were all living in the Southern Water Tribe.

Dessert was done finally, and everyone had said their goodbyes. Everyone who had flown in earlier that day on Appa was on board.

"Appa, yip yip!" Aang lashed the reins, and Appa lifted up and flew off east toward the Earth Kingdom.

When they were up in the air and flying high in the breeze, The King cried out and lifted his hands in the air as though he were on a roller coaster. "WAHOO! Shang! Put your hands in the air!"

"I'd much rather hold on to the railing here, sir." Shang shouted back over the reins. Clearly, he was both terrified and thrilled.

Everyone laughed at him. Everyone was having such a great time, especially Aang. His life was going perfect. He had fulfilled his task as the Avatar, had started a family with the girl of his dreams, nothing could be better.

So he continued to laugh and play with his friends and family, unaware that all his hard work, all this peace, all the happiness of his world, could be about to end.

**Author's Note: For those who decide to give me feedback/reviews,**** I would really appreciate it ****if you tell me how I did with the demonstration of Aang's power. How good was I at describing the bending action?**

**Now a few of my reviewers have reminded me that Pain/Nagato can revive people, and they were curious as to why he didn't revive Konan. I totally forgot about that ability. I don't even remember why I decided to kill off Konan in the first place. I guess I wanted to show Nagato's emotions a little, give all of the Akatsuki members a chance to show their emotions, and also add a little depressed tone, sense of loss, you know? Anyway, let's say that Pain doesn't have that ability in this story.**

**Well, thank you anyone who reads, reviews, subscribes, favorites, or otherwise supports this story. More will be up soon. Thank You.**


	3. Taking Flight

Back at the Akatsuki hideout in the mountains, all nine members were outside on a landing, getting ready for their new journey to they mysterious world of the avatar. The sun had come out by now, and had lit up the land in a prettier tone. The sun shone off of the gleaming wet rock of the mountain, as well as the dew on many trees in the woods below. They were not so high up on the mountain that it was snowy and very cold, though they certainly could feel a breeze. Miles and miles of green trees could be seen from up where they were, with more mountains in the distance. The entrance to the akatsuki's hideout had been opened now. It was clearly visible now, a large, gaping whole to a cave.

Kisame walked out of the gaping entrance to their hideout, carrying a red cooler in both hands, the lid on. Hidan followed him, carrying a few more bags of food slung over his shoulder. They had been tasked to take out all the necessary food they were keeping. Sasori followed with a bag of other supplies and scrolls that they could not afford to leave behind. Everyone else was standing or sitting around outside, waiting for Deidara to prepare their rides. He was chewing detonating clay in his arms, mixing his chakra with them.

Nagato was out of his chakra transmitting throne, sitting on a rock near the edge of the landing. He was still haggard and bony from how much he lived his life through Pain, and chakra rods were still sticking through his back. Even on the rare occasions when he left his throne, it was briefly, and he still did no eat much through his normal body. He had left his thrown now because it would be easier for Deidara's bird to carry him as a normal person. Using his Earth Grudge Fear technique, Kakuzu had sown Nagato a black tunic and black shorts which he now whore. The chakra rods in his back had pierced holes in the back though.

His throne and the six paths were being kept in a scoll which Zetsu now kept. Now that Konan was gone, Madara had assigned Zetsu to be Nagato's partner, and bodyguard in some cases. Although Zetsu's techniques were an excellent choice for transporting and protecting Nagato, Nagato did not like that idea at all. Over the past years, the only person he truly trusted was Konan. He found it very uncomfortable to put so much of his being into the hands of someone else. But Madara had given Zetsu orders, and that was that.

"If I can trust Zetsu, so can you. You can rely on him. Trust me." Is what Madara had said earlier about him. Madara had been working with Zetsu for quite some time now, so of course Madara trusted him. But still, despite how White Zetsu had tried to comfort him and promise to be a good partner, Nagato was still uneasy about the change. Never the less, he had no choice but to accept Zetsu for now.

As for the rest of the akatsuki, they found it weird to see the true face behind their fearless leader, Pain. Nagato looked so much more frail and vulnerable than Pain, which of course he was. But most of them looked past Nagato, and remembered Pain in all his strength. In particular, they always saw Nagato's Rinnegan in his left eye, not hidden behind his hair, and from that, they remembered what he was capable of.

"Oh, dear," Zetsu suddenly exclaimed, rather calmly, "it seems our perimeters have been breached."

"By who?" Madara demanded. "Nin from where?"

"A few jonin squads from the Konoha, a dozen anbu squads from Kumo, um... and get this, a few jonin from Sunagakure."

"Wow. Everyone must be really desperate to stop us." Deidara snickered.

"How long before they reach the mountain?" Nagato asked.

"About ten minutes." Zetsu replied.

"Don't worry about that." Deidara said again. "We'll be long gone by then." A few of his clay pieces were already done mixing his chakra with. The mouths in his hands spit them out back into his palms. He started molding and playing around with the pieces, starting to form birds from them.

"Don't make us wait much longer, Deidara." Sasori hissed as he set down the supplies, and sat down on a rock himself.

"Don't worry, Sasori. I just said I'm almost done." Deidara was getting annoyed with his partner's impatience.

"Here's a question," Kisame said as he set down the cooler, "What are we going to do with those last two jinchuriki corpses?"

"Hm, that is something we have to think about I guess." Deidara replied.

"I saw we leave them here for their villages to find." Nagato spat. "Let them morn for their lost friends, make them know pain!" And then he started to calm himself. "Also, maybe they will believe we have completed our weapon, and will fear our next move while we're gone."

"I like that idea." Madara said.

"So, is that what we're going to do?" Hidan asked, "I mean you guys are the bosses here, so is that the final decision?"

"Well, does anyone have a better idea?" Madara demanded.

"I checked my bingo book." Kakuzu spoke up. "Naruto is not worth anything, but Bee has 25,000,000 ryo on his head."

"Seriously, Kakuzu, what the fuck is it with you and money?" Hidan spat.

"I hate to say it, but Hidan has a point, Kakuzu." Said Itachi. "How much money do you have right now?"

Kakuzu put a hand to his chin as he tried to remember the last time he checked. "Last time I checked… I had… 11,000,000,000 ryo."

Everyone stared, wide eyes. "ELEVEN…BILLION…FUCKING…RYO!" Hidan bellowed "Get the fuck out of here! That's enough to by a fucking mansion!"

"And you never share any of that with us because…?" Black Zetsu demanded.

"Because I've earned it for me. Get your own money, you free-loaders!"

"Seriously, Kakuzu." Madara added. "We could really use some of that money as funding."

"Maybe. But we haven't really needed to fund anything, so there's no need to share my money."

"Well, anyway," Said Nagato. "You have plenty of cash to sustain yourself. You don't need anymore. We're not turning the corpses in for a bounty."

Kakuzu hung his head in disappointment.

"Maybe if you learn to share, he might reward you." Hidan whistled, moving closer to Kakuzu's side.

"Shut up!" Kakuzu's fist turned to stone, and he punched his partner, smashing him into the rock wall of the mountain.

"Why don't you let me take them?" Sasori said excitedly. "I could use their bodies to make new puppets! I've been thinking, and I could use switch blades to make B's seven swords dance. I'll call that design 'Bee'. And maybe I'll use retractable drills in the palms for Naruto's rasengan move. I'll call that model 'Fox'. And for the nine tails, maybe I'll give it cables in the ass, each wrapped in a helix of razor wire. Does that sound cool?"

"Even I'm starting to like those ideas." Deidara snickered as he finished molding a bird.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea." Said Madara.

"Hmph. Sasori needs more puppets about as much as Kakuzu needs more money." Kisame snickered.

"That's actually saying a lot, Kisame." Kakuzu said grimly.

"Seriously, Sasori," Kisame continued. "You're like a kid who can't get get enough toys."

"Again, you're not that far off from that, Kisame." Sasori smiled.

"Enough with that cracks!" Hidan yelled. "What the fuck are we going to do with the bodies?"

Nagato was the one to answer that. "Well, I still think it would be a good idea to use their corpses to spread terrorism." He said. "How about this. Sasori, you can have B's body. We'll leave Naruto's body for everyone to find. His face is more well known in the ninja world. Everyone will feel pain from his loss more."

"Sounds like a good compromise." Sasori nodded.

"Excellent." Said Madara.

"Except now I can't use those cool weapon systems and name I had in mind for Naruto's puppet."

"It's not that big-a-deal, Sasori." Said Deidara. "How about you just take the weapon ideas you had for Naruto, and use them all in B's puppet? And for the name? How about you name your new puppet, 'jinchuriki'? It will be a tribute to _both_ Naruto _and_ B."

"Hm. That's a pretty good idea, Deidara. I'll do that. Thanks. Seems like you're starting to take an interest in my art, finally."

"Well, I admit, your work is kind of something." Deidara muttered, as if it hurt him to admit it.

"Alright then." Itachi dragged out B's corpse by the collar, and laid him down in front of Sasori. Sasori took out a scroll from inside his cloak, as well as a small black paint brush, and laid the scoll out on the ground. He wrote a few symbols in the scroll with the brush. When he was done, he formed a hand seal, and B's body disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sasori rolled up the scroll again, and receded it back into his cloak.

"Almost done!" Deidara said excitedly.

"Hey, Madara, sir," Sasori asked, "I always wondered. Why again did you enter our group under an alias?"

"Yeah," Hidan added, "Why did you first pretend to be that little fucktard, Tobi?"

"I wanted to make sure I could trust all of you with my true identity." Madara replied calmly. "I needed to get to know all of you first. You know, lots of people in this ninja world are out to get me."

"_All_ of our head are worth a lot here." Kakuzu snickered.

"Well, I must say," Kisame spoke up, "I'm going to miss that Tobi persona. He was so funny! He lightened up every bleak day for us."

"Well, I don't miss him," Deidara snickered, "Madara sir is _way_ less annoying now."

"Yeah, I guess Tobi was a little annoying." Sasori nodded his head in agreement.

"Well, I'm here now as myself, whether you guys like it or not." Madara hissed.

"Oh, I'm not saying we don't like you now, sir." Kisame laughed.

"Well, perhaps later, I can act like Tobi again just to make you guys laugh." Madara chuckled. Everyone started laughing from that.

"Here's an important question," Hidan blurted out. "Who is our leader right now? Madara, or Pain?"

Madara and Nagato turned to each other. Nagato looked surprised. He had not thought about that.

"We're both the leaders." Madara said. "You can take orders from both of us."

"Well, it's just that now that Konan's gone, Madara, you assigned Zetsu to look after Pain." Hidan continued Seems to me like you're being more of a leader than he is."

"I relinquished Zetsu to Pain. Now, Zetsu is more of his subordinate than mine. He needs a partner more than I do, especially now that we're going to be doing a lot of traveling. Still, Pain and I are equals, I assure you."

"If that's true, shouldn't the two of you be partners?"

"Zetsu's abilities are more suited for traveling, mobility and hiding than mine are."

"Well, I guess that makes sense to me." Hidan replied.

"All done!" Deidara exclaimed. He tossed four small birds on the ground in front of him, away from the group. He rose his right hand to form a hand seal.

Ka! He shouted. Five large clouds of smoke puffed up. When they disappeared, the five bird sculptures have grown into huge ones. Each one about the size of an horse-drawn cart, maybe bigger.

"Alright. We ready to get the hell out of here?" Deidara announced.

Everyone grunted with joy, finally ready to get the show on the road.

"Hold on." Nagato exclaimed, raising his hand. "Madara, remember what we talked about earlier?"

"Oh, yes. Of course." Madara walked over to the cooler near Kisame, crouched down and opened the lid. He went through the ice and cans and bottles until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a thick green bottle of sparkling champagne. He also took out nine stemmed wine glasses.

As Madara started passing out the glasses and pouring the wine, Nagato started speaking. "My original plan was to drink this bottle together to celebrate our victory over the last few jinchurikis, and then our imminent victory with the world. But tt seems that things did not work out quite like we planned. I figured it would be best to drink it now."

"That's smart. Not let the money go to waste." Kakuzu said as Madara poured his glass.

Itach followed up. "Well, think of it like this. Now we can drink to hope and wish ourselves the best of luck for our new mission here."

"That is true." Nagato replied as Madara came to him. The glass that Madara passed to him felt heavy in his hand. His hand was shaking as he held it by where the stem met the cup. Madara helped steady his hand with one of his own hands, and poured the champagne with the other. As Madara released his hand, Nagato's hand again wobbled.

Everyone had their own glass now. Madara poured the last bit of champagne into the last glass he held, and then set the bottle down. When he was done pouring, Madara looked over at Nagato. Nagato was originally going to give the pep talk that they had planned out, but Nagato was not really in the mood, so he nodded to Madara to continue. Madara raised his glass.

"Now, we have come a long way," He announced. As he spoke, all eight sets of eyes looked at him and fell silent, listening intently to their leader. "We have faced many opponents and obstacles in our journey to become the most feared terrorists in these five nations. And now, our victory is at hand." He began to pace around. "Of course, we have not always gotten along, and we have had many disagreements in the past. But in the end, we all have one goal. And that goal is to control the world, and bring about an ironic peace."

"And now, the last step we must take is to capture the avatar, and then, we will be invincible. So," He raised his glass again "to the Akatsuki! To victory!"

"To victory!" Eight voices murmured, and eight glasses were raised with his.

"May our new quest go without difficulty, and lead us to our goals!" And with that, everyone took a step close to Nagato so he could reach them, and gently tapped their cups together with a loud ping, and then took a big sip. The liquid was cold, sweet, and bubbly. As everyone took their sip, they imagined how sweet their victory would be after this mission as well. When Madara took his sip, he turned away to take his mask off so no one would see his face. Kakuzu simply pulled his mask down. He did not mind it if everyone else saw his face, with his stitched up mouth.

"Hey, Sasori," Deidara asked his partner, "I forgot, can you actually drink?"

Sasori finished his drink and turned to his partner. "If my heart is in a puppet, and that puppet body ingests something, the nutrients get absorbed by my heart. So yes, I can drink."

"You know," Nagato spoke up after his glass left his lips, shortly followed by everyone else's, "One of the reasons why I picked this brand is because it's one of Konan's favorites."

Everyone exchanged sad glances. Their moods suddenly lessened after being reminded of their lost comrade.

"Well then," White Zetsu finally spoke up, "To Konan!" He raised his glass again.

"To Konan." Everyone else murmured, though not in perfect unison. They all raised their glasses the same.

"We'll miss you." Deidara admitted. Itachi and Kisame nodded in agreement. With that, everyone lifted their glasses back to their mouths, and drank down the last bit of champagne they had.

When they finished their drinks, Hidan leaned over to Kakuzu to whisper to him. "Kind of funny that this toast is being proposed by the guy who ate Konan's corpse."

"For once in your life, show some respect!" Kakuzu hissed back. Eyes widened by Kakuzu's silent outburst, Hidan leaned back awkwardly away from him. "Of course I feel bad for losing Konan," Hidan mumbled to himself. It was true what he said. Zetsu had devoured Konan's corpse, as they had decided to do for any akatsuki member killed. This way, anbu agents could not find and autopsy them.

At last, everyone dropped or se their glasses down on the ground. A few shattered, the rest cracked.

"Well then, I think we're ready to go." Nagato announced.

Everyone got to work getting the final preparations done. Kisame and Itachi carried the cooler together to the bird they would be taking, each one held one handle on the sides. They lifted the cooler up into their bird's large, pelican-like mouth. Hidan and Kakuzu took the bag of food, and Sasori and Deidara took the other supplies and scrolls.

"We better hurry now," Black Zetsu called out. "The search parties I warned of will be here any second now."

Zetsu walked over to Nagato, a steadily helped him to his feet. Black Zetsu held Nagato's left upper arm in a strong grip. "Come on." He hissed.

"Hey now, don't be so hard on him." White Zetsu said coaxingly to Black. "He is our leader, after all."

When they got to their bird, Zetsu climbed up first on the closed up wing, then reached down and pulled up Nagato, holding him under his armpits. Nagato held tight to the reins that had been put on the bird's neck. Zetsu held on to his shoulders. Kakuzu and Hidan hopped up onto their bird, Kakuzu closer to the bird's neck. Sasori and Deidara also got their bird, Deidara in front only because it was his bird. Itachi was in front in his and Kisame's bird, with Kisame behind him. Lastly, Madara got his own bird.

"I can use my space-time migration jutsu to take us to the edge of the nations." Madara called over to Deidara so that everyone could hear. "It will speed things up a little. The rest is up to you, Deidara."

"Alright," Cried Deidara, "Here we go!"

Each bird spread out its wings, and started flapping hard against the ground. With just a few strong flaps, with slammed air against the ground and scattered dust and pebbles, each bird eventually lifted up off the ground, and high into the air. Each rider held on tighter to whatever was securing them to their bird. A few were rather nervous with flying.

Of course, this was not the case for Deidara. He had flown many times on his birds. He was use to the steady rise and fall beneath the wings. He loved the fee of the wind blowing hard against him. He was use to it so much, he was usually comfortable not holding on at all and standing up. Of course though, this was the results of the training he had done, and for flying his creations in such ways during fights.

Sasori occasionally enjoyed flying. He had a few puppets were designed to help him fly, but none of them really compared to Deidara's birds. He held on to Deidara's shoulders, and carefully looked down over the edge at the miles of trees passing by below them. They saw even further distances around them than at the mountain cliff, for now they were twice as high up. Even Kakuzu would admit that it was a beautiful view.

Everyone else seemed to be enjoying the ride, some more than others, with three exceptions. One was Itachi, who expressed no emotion, no sign of thrill as they sore through the sky, despite his partner behind him was cheering and screaming with glee, and occasionally putting his hands up in the air, though careful not to let himself fall. The second was Madara, who's face was still concealed behind his mask, and he still held on to his bird's neck. Finally, there was Nagato, who plainly had an uneasy feeling about flying. Thank God he had Zetsu there to support him.

"Alright!" Madara shouted out loud enough for everyone to hear over the wind, "I'm going to jump us now! Hang on!" He clapped his hands together, and clasped them into a hand seal, pushing a little to build up his chakra for the jutsu. It was going to be a slight bit of a challenge. It has been a while since he teleported so many large objects at once. His Eternal Mongekyo Sharignan eye seemed to glow.

He looked straight ahead in front of the fleet, concentrating hard on one point in the air. As he did so, his sharp sight seemed to pierce a whole in the air itself. A black dot suddenly appeared in the air, and began to grow. As it grew, the air around the whole seemed to swirl in a vortex, air was being sucked into the hole. As the birds flew toward the hole, they felt themselves being sucked in as well. Each akatsuki member held on to their rides as they were sucked into the hole. A few shut their eyes. Hidan screamed when he and Kakuzu fell in.

They were only in the hole for a brief second before they were kicked out into open air again. They all made it through, in one piece. Ahead of them was nothing but clear, open water, glittering from the reflection of the sun. The ocean.

A few looked back where they had come out, back where the wormhole was. The wormhole was gone, and the air was as clear and not-swirly as normal. Behind them was the rocky coast of the the shinobi nations.

"Did everyone make it out okay?" Madara called out. He quickly did a role call, to which everyone replied 'here' or 'present'. They all made it through.

"We all made it!" Hidan called back after the role call. "Nice job, boss."

"Thank you."

"Now, let's just keep heading in this direction, and we should make it too the avatar world." Nagato called out to everyone.

"Roger that!" Deidara replied.

After that, the excitement of flying began to die down. The flight was pretty smooth from that point on. Calm, empty seas, easy weather. No trouble at all. Calmly flying above the calm waters, and the flimsy-looking clouds rolling by under and around them. Everyone was silent for the most part, of the ride, occasionally having meaningless conversations amongst the whole group, though most talking was between partners.

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. They keep water in their cooler though, which Kisame tossed out to anyone who needed it, for the cooler was still in his and Itachi's bird. No one really complained about being hungry either. A few began to get a little bored or stir crazy, especially Hidan, who began to doubt that the place they were going even existed.

Finally, on the morning of their third day in the flight, Deidara looked ahead with his eye scope, and ahead saw a large mass of trees and rocky cliffs.

His heart soared, and he cried out "LAND HO!", pointing ahead.

Everyone took a second to look ahead, and they saw the tiny mass of land ahead. Everyone cheered.

"It's about fucking time!" Hidan snapped, then he raised his hands in a prayer. "Thank you, Lord Jashin!"

Kakuzu held in his frustration. He was at the breaking point of pushing Hidan off the bird. Anyone who sat next to Hidan for two days straight would have that urge.

"Hey, wait a second." Deidara called out again, still looking ahead with his scope. "I see a weird-looking settlement ahead just a few miles off the coast."

"What kind of settlement?" Itachi called over.

"It's a weird-looking one." Deidara replied. "It's hanging from under a cliff. All the buildings are upside down."

"How populated is it?" Nagato asked.

"It looks pretty abandoned. I don't see anyone there."

"Let's land there." Nagato cried out to everyone, more to Deidara, "We'll plan the next move from there."

"Roger that!" Deidara replied.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: And now, here is an Omake I wrote. For those who do not know, Omakes are comedy skits put on by some Naruto characters at the end of some episodes of <strong>**Naruto: Shippuden****. Many Naruto Fanfiction writers add omakes to their own stories. Me, I thought it would be odd adding one to my own story, but this one idea I had was burning in my head here, and I did not want to start another story, so I added it here. Enjoy!**

All ten members of the Akatsuki sat at a round table in their hideout. A lightbulb lit the table and everyone sitting.

"Alright." Said Pain. "So, tonight, we attack Kumogakure. Everyone understand the plan?

Everyone nodded except Deidara.

"What? Wait, That's tonight?" Deidara asked suddenly.

"Yeah. Is there a problem with that?" Kakuzu hissed.

"Well, It's just that we got tickets to see Taylor Swift tonight." With one hand, he gestured Sasori and Tobi, indicating that the three of them were going, and in the other hand, held up three red tickets.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that!" Sasori nodded.

"I love her!" Tobi yelped. "She's awesome!"

"Oh my god!" Konan exclaimed, leaning in from her seat, surprise lighting up her face. "You got Taylor Swift tickets?"

"Eh, her music sucks, but she's a hot little bitch, don't you think?" Hidan smirked.

"Her concert tickets are always over-priced." Kakuzu muttered. "Not worth it if you ask me."

Pain thought it over for a second. "Alright, how about this: We'll hold off on the assault until tomorrow, and you three can go see your concert-"

"YAY!" Tobi screamed with glee.

"If..." Pain continued, louder and annoyed. "You can find tickets for the rest of us. I happen to like Swift myself."

"So, now we're all going? Sweet! Sounds like fun!" White Zetsu exclaimed.

"We're not going yet." Itachi replied to him. "It all depends on if these three can find seven more tickets."

"Don't worry." Sasori whispered with a smile. "I happen to know where we can find some. Let's go." He got up from his seat and headed for the door. After exchanging confused glances, Deidara and Tobi followed him.

"I really hope they get those tickets." Konan said emotionlessly. "I'm a huge fan of Swift."

"Yeah, we can all tell." Said Pain.

* * *

><p>In an unknown village, at an outdoor ticket booth in the middle of a nearly empty street, a clique of seven high school friends just came out.<p>

"Alright! The last seven tickets!" The big jock boy who was the leader of the group. "This is going to be sick!" Everyone else cheered and laughed along with him, all getting excited, until they noticed the three strange-looking men in black robes standing to the side of them.

Their laughing died down. They were seriously creeped out by these guys eyeing them. How long they've been standing there, none of them knew.

"GET 'EM" Tobi screamed.

* * *

><p>Later that evening, all ten akatsuki were in the middle of a cheering crowd in the middle of cheering crowd in the middle of a park large park that had been rented out. In front of the massive crowd of people was a stage six feat up off the ground. On the stage was Taylor Swift in the middle, sitting on a stool, strumming her guitar, and singing "The Best Day" into the microphone. The seven other people of her band were playing their instruments just a few feet behind her. A huge set of overhead stage lights lit up the stage brilliantly.<p>

All the akatsuki members were laughing, cheering, and having a great time. Each had a cold bottle of beer in one hand.

"Does this beat a raid on Kumogakure or what?" Kisame shouted at Itachi, having to scream over the crowd and the music blasting from the speakers around the place.

"Hell fucking yeah!" Itachi laughed and took a chug from his beer.

Deidara, Sasori, and Tobi were all standing shoulder to shoulder and swaying together with the music.

"Music." Deidara whispered from the middle. "Now there's an art we can all admire!"

"In that case, Swift is definitely and artist!" Said Sasori.

"I love you, Taylor!" Tobi screamed out.

Konan was having a wonderful time, smiling and waving her bottle in the air with the music. Pain was at her side with his arm around her.

"You enjoying yourself, Kakuzu?" Zetsu asked before taking a drink.

"I can't imagine why you wouldn't." Hidan added. "You're at a fucking Taylor Swift concert, _and_ you got in for _free_!"

"Okay, I admit. I'm having fun." Kakuzu laughed.

"That's the spirit man!"

"Here's to Swift boys!" Pain raised his bottle again, and nine other bottles clanged against it. Each member took another swig, and got back to enjoying the concert. Swift continued to strum on her guitar and sing into the microphone.

_I don't know who I'm gonna talk to now at school _

_I know I'm laughing on the car ride home with you _

_Don't know how long it's gonna take to feel okay _

_But I know I had the best day with you today_

**Author's Note: Did you know that Swift****'s most recent tour was actually through Singapore? That's pretty close to Japan, don't you think? Anyway, I saw "Becoming Fearless", a little documentary on Taylor Swift, and this stuck in my head.**

**Just to be clear on something: Chi and Chakra are the same thing, same type of energy. In this story, it is just given different terms by the two cultures.**

**Well, hope everyone liked my third chapter. Thanks to anyone who has read, reviewed, or subscribed to this story. I really appreciate it. Thank you. I will see you all next time.**


	4. The Western Air Temple

Under a bright sunny sky, Deidara's five birds glided over just a small collection of trees and small mountains that was first to greet them as they flew over the land elevated land. All nine men were eager to reach their next destination, to get out of their birds and finally get to stretch out and get some space away from their partners.

After another few minutes, finally, they came to what they were looking for, a huge trench that must have been a dozen miles long. It also seemed bottomless. The ravine was concealed by a thick mist. Across the trench from them, the other Akatsuki could see what Deidara's scope had seen before them. An abandoned, upside-down city of traditional Japanese towers. It was truly fascinating. It was a city unlike any they had seen in the Shinobi world.

"Isn't this an interesting work of architecture," Sasori whispered.

Madara's eye scanned over the place, looking for a good place for them to land. At last, he found a place.

"Over there!" He shouted to Deidara. "Land us there!" He pointed to a large landing. On the landing were a few destroyed pillars and some rubble, as though there had once been a battle in this area, and the landing had suffered from explosions.

"This is your captain speaking," Deidara called out jokingly, "Please prepare for landing, and thank you for choosing Deidara airlines." The birds all flew toward the landing. On approaching, they each pulled back with their wings, and gently hit the ground with their feet.

The sudden touch of solid ground threw everyone off balance. Hidan and Kisame clumsily fell off their birds. Nagato would have fallen off had it not been for Zetsu.

"Phew! Finally, solid fucking ground!" Hidan felt the floor with his hands to feel the stability. Kakuzu jumped down next to him. He himself almost lost his footing. Itachi had to hold his arms out to get the feeling of stability again.

Zetsu hopped down from his bird. He was a little wobbly, but okay for the most part. He reached back up, caught Nagato around the torso, and gently helped him down, as though he were a child. "Easy, I gotcha," White Zetzu said assuringly. When Nagato's feet were on the ground, he still kept his arm around Zetsu to support his weak body.

Deidara hopped off his bird with the least difficulty, unlike his partner, who was still wobbly. Madara was the last to hop off. Of course he was wobbly. He actually had to swing his arms around to keep himself from falling over.

But after a few seconds, everyone got use to the feel of standing up, and of solid ground again.

"Let's unpack the birds," Nagato suggested. Zetsu had taken him over to a piece of a pillar to sit on.

Kisame and Itachi carried the cooler out of their bird's beak. Hidan grabbed the food bags from his and Kakuzu's beak. Sasori got the supplies and scrolls. When everything was out, Deidara reversed his jutsu with another hand seal, and poofed the birds back into little toy ones. He picked each one up and stored them in his bag again for future use.

Kakuzu looked over the area they were at. He noticed at the center, as a ruined ring of bronze, circular pieces.

"I think this ring use to be a fountain." He announced, gaining everyone's attention. "He reached into the fountain and felt the floor with his finger. "It's still cold and damp. Water must have been flowing in here for a long time, and then stopped.

"It seems recently, within the past five years perhaps, there was a battle here," Itachi replied. "It left the place more run down than it was before." He looked around and made a few observations himself. "I'm guessing this was the capital of an ancient civilization that was wiped out over a century ago."

Suddenly, Zetsu heard quiet voices. "Wait!" he exclaimed, "I hear someone." Everyone else shut up for a second and listened. Immediatly, they all heard the voice he was talking of.

"And now, if you come this way in here, this is the birthing chamber where all the newborns were, well... born." It was the clear voice of a young lady in her twenties. It was coming from the tower across the catwalk to the left of the fountain.

As she continued talking, a few of the guys glared at Deidara.

"I thought you said this place was abandoned!" Sasori hissed. He lowered his voice in case anybody from the tower heard them.

"Well, it looks pretty abandoned to me!" He hissed back, "I didn't see anyone else here!"

"They seem to be discussing informational things about these ruins." Itachi said, still listening to the girl talking still. "I think these ruins are still abandoned. The civilization that built them is gone. And now, it is used as a museum. What we're listening to right now must be a tour group on a tour."

"And that lady talking must be the tour _guide_," Kisame added.

"That makes sense," Madara nodded.

They fell silent again, listening to the tour guide continue. "-this bed here is where Avatar Yangchen was born," she said.

"Did you all here that?" Kakuzu whispered, "She said _Avatar_ Yangchen."

"Yes, we heard, Kakuzu," Hidan rolled his eyes, "We're not deaf."

"So, this place was a major base of operations for the avatar," Black Zetsu spoke up, "So why would it be abandoned?"

"We can't be sure about that," Madara answered, still in a whisper. "We don't really know anything about the Avatar, aside from what Kakuzu heard from travelers-"

"And that's not really much, is it?" Snickered Hidan.

"-We don't know about the Avatar, we don't know about the people on this side of the earth, or the geography or landscape."

"Hell, we don't even know where we are!" Deidara chuckled.

"My point exactly," Madara replied.

"-Was Avatar Aang born here too?" A man's voice asked from inside the birth chamber.

"No." Replied the tour guide lady, "Avatar Aang was born and raised in the S_outhern_ Air Temple." Her voice cheered up a bit then, "But, the next area is where Aang and his companions set up camp for most of their time in between The Day of Black Sun and the Day of Sozin's Comet. Is everyone done checking this place out? ...Okay then. Let's move on."

The akatsuki started hearing shuffling and footsteps, quickly getting louder.

"Damn! They're coming this way!" Kisame cursed.

"Hide!" Madara hissed. And with that, his body wavered a little, then vanished. He was using a technique to either teleport somewhere else or become invisible. Suddenly, the cooler, food bags, and supplies bag all quavered and evaporated just the same. Madara was hiding them as well.

Zetsu's body sank feet first into the floor, as though he were in quicksand. He was using his Mayfly technique. In a matter of seconds, his body was completely concealed.

Carefully, Nagato crawled off the pillar he was sitting on, and lay down on the floor behind it, hiding his body. Itachi dashed to an upright pillar near him, and pressed his body against it. Hidan, Kakuzu, and Deidara each ran to the edge of the platform, and crouched behind two of the pillar stubs there. Hidan and Deidara shared one. They both snapped at each other about not finding their own pillar, until Kakuzu eyed them, gesturing them to shut up. Kisame ducked behind another down pillar. Sasori got down low behind the wall of the fountain.

Everyone was hidden and hidden behind something, unable to be seen from behind the sliding doors closer to the inward point of the temple. Still, if the sight-seers were to come out closer to the fountain, they would all probably be discovered. By now, the tour group was just about on the other side of the catwalk by now, entering the room with the huge sliding metal doors that was right in front of the fountain.

The group consisted of about twenty tourists, all dressed casually, and at the head was a beautiful young lady dressed in dark red and brown-ish robes that looked slightly more formal, but still fit for walking around a mountain side. The girl had almond-brown hair and darker-brown eyes. She looked about in her early twenties, and was about Hidan's height. Luckily, nobody seemed to have noticed the akatsuki.

Deidara and Hidan were peeking slightly from behind their pillar on the same side to see what the group was doing. Itachi was also peering from behind his pillar. Being extra cautious,sing his Earth Grudge Fear threads, Kakuzu had detached one of his eyes, was holding from around the corner while his whole body stayed where it was.

Finally, the footsteps ceased. The tour had stopped in the center of the room. The guide girl started speaking, loud so everyone could hear.

"Now, as I said before, this landing is where Aang and his companions stayed for some time. They fled here after the Invasion on the Day of Black Sun had failed. During that time, they would explore the temple and hang out by the fountain over there by day, and sleep and eat meals here in this room at night."

"Can we go out there by the fountain?" One boy asked.

"I'm afraid not," The girl replied. "During their stay, Aang and his companions fought two battles. One was with the assassin we all know as Combustion Man. The second was against a fleet of Fire Nation airships that Princess Azula had lead here. Both battles had damaged the fooring out there, so we prohibit walking over there both to protect both the exhibit and our guests. I hope you'll all understand."

Hidan and Deidara both let out sighs of relief. If the guests had come out, they all would have been screwed. But why were they hiding anyway? They all could easily dispose of these civilians with no problems. But then again, Madara told them to hide, and what he says goes.

"Now, historians believe that long ago, the air nomads would come out here and hang out in between lessons at school," the girl continued, "It must have been a very nice place to visit back then."

"Why does this room here have these big metal doors?" A man asked.

"The air nomads prepared these doors for protection against invaders," The girl replied. "During such invasions, the civilians would take shelter in here, as well as two more similar rooms in the temple, while the warriors would word off the invaders."

"Well, that didn't work to well when the Fire Nation attacked them here, apparently," Another younger man chuckled.

"Apparently not," The girl replied.

"Excuse me," A woman asked, "When was this mosaic made?"

Kakuzu could see that there was a huge mosaic in the back wall of the room they were in. It was seriously huge! It was of the sky, filled with peaceful fluffy clouds. In the center of the picture there were three huge, fluffy mammels that Kakuzu had never seen before. What were they? The mosaic was chipped and dirtied in some places, wearing away from the thousands of years it must have been there.

"This mosaic was pieced together by an artist named Shan-Chien back when the temple was built," the girl answered the woman's question. "His signature can be seen in the corner over there." She pointed to the lower right hand corner of the mosaic. "We believe that Shan-Chien constructed this as a tribute to the mighty sky bison, which the air nomads considered to be truly majestic creatures. They are such, don't you all agree? And the mosaic is a wonder itself. It took the artist nearly four years to perfect, they say."

_So, Sky Bison,_ Kakuzu thought. _That's what those things in the picture are._

"Is it true that Appa, Avatar Aang's pet sky bison, is the last of his kind?" A man asked.

"As far as the rest of the world knows, I'm afraid so," The girl answered, her tone suddenly becoming sadder and more serious. "When the Firelord Sozin's armies raided the air temples, they slaughtered all the bison there. It truly is sad, don't you think? That when Appa passes, this amazing race of creatures will become extinct? It's always sad when a species becomes extinct."

_As the last of his kind, that bison must be a prize for poachers._ Kakuzu thought.

"Anyway, that's all there really is here. Shall we move on?" The girl cheered up and led the tour off out of the room and down the next catwalk.

After five minutes of waiting, when the akatsuki could no longer hearvoices and footsteps, they all came out to the center from their hiding spots. Zetsu sprung up from the floor, and Madara reappeared, bringing back the supplies with him, putting them back right where they were left before.

"Did you guys here all of that?" Hidan blurted out, "She was pouring out so much good stuff."

"I thought she would never leave, or shut up," Sasori muttered.

"It seems they were talking a lot about someone known as 'Avatar Aang'," Itachi said.

"Yes. It seems so," Nagato added. "That must be the name of the Avatar."

"So, anyway, Madara, Pain, what is going to be our first move?" Deidara asked.

"Well, as we were saying before, we need to learn more about this land and the Avatar before we can do anything," Madara answered.

"And I think the first thing we should find out is where we are," Kakuzu added.

"This place is the Western Air Temple, we know that." said Kisame.

"Yes, but where in this world is that?" Nagato asked.

After a moment of silence and thinking, Deidara spoke up. "That foxy tour guide seems pretty smart. I bet _she_ can answer a few of our questions."

"Good idea, Deidara," Kisame grinned. "Let's go get her down here so we can interrogate her! And if she tries to resist us, we'll be her until she submits to us!" He reached up around his back and gripped the golden handle of his huge sword.

"Or, we could rape her!" Hidan snickered.

"Yes, or that!" Kisame growled.

"Guys, guys," Itachi snapped, silencing them and turning them all to him. He then spoke back in his calm, normal voice. "Must we deal with all of our problems using violence and rape?"

"Itachi has a point," Madara added. "Besides, this world does not know us. They are completely unaware of our crimes and reputations. We have a clean slate here. We should not dirty it until the time is right."

"Is that why you didn't want us to be seen by the tour?" Hidan asked.

"Exactly."

"So, what about the guide?" Black Zetsu asked.

"Why don't you all just let me go talk to her?" Itachi answered. And with that, his body suddenly burst out into a small flock of black crows. They all cawed and fluttered away toward the other buildings.

"Hmph," Hidan grumbled. "_He_ gets to be alone with the hot chick."

"Don't worry guys," Kisame snickered, "Itachi's got this one in the bag! He's got a way with the ladies."

"Hmph. I hear _all_ the Uchiha boys do," Deidara muttered as he walked over to the food packs.

* * *

><p>"And that concludes our tour for today," The girl announced an hour later as the tour came out of a final building, and walked along a balcony to the canyon wall. "I do hope you all enjoyed your day here at the western air temple, and we hope to see you again soon. Dianti here will take you all back up above." She gestured to a muscular man wearing the same colored clothes she did, standing on a rock platform jutting out at the edge of the balcony.<p>

Itachi watched from the corner of the building as the joyful tourists piled on to the platform. And then, something Itachi almost was not expecting happened. The man stomped down on the rock platform, threw jabs up into the air, and the platform lifted up on the wall until it had reached the top of the cliff.

_What was that technique?_ Itachi wondered. _It was not done using handsigns like a jutsu. Well, perhaps that is another thing I can ask the girl._

The girl watched as her last group was lifted back up to the top of the cliff. Now she had an hour to kill before her next tour began. _Maybe I'll go back to my tent in the forest and have some lunch,_ she thought. _Man, I love this job, and its such a beautiful day._

"Excuse me, miss." A cold voice suddenly whispered.

"Ah!" The girl spun around and jumped back, almost loosing her balance. She looked up at the tall, mysterious looking man. He was about five inches taller than she was. At first she was a little scared, but then, she looked and made out the man to be quite handsome.

"Oh, um. Hello." She stuttered.

"Forgive me," Itachi said apologetically. "I did not mean to startle you."

"That is okay," The girl replied. She cleared her throat before continuing. "Can I help you? I don't think you were in my last tour."

"Actually you can help me. You see, my friends and I have just flown in from across the world, and we don't really know where we are."

"You _flew_ here?" She cocked an eyebrow. "On what?"

"Some giant birds that my friend has tamed."

The girl stared back at him wide-eyed. "Could you show me those birds later?"

"Sure, later, if you help us out."

"Now, we don't really allow people that aren't on tours to hang out around the temple. I'm going to have to ask you and your friends to leave."

"I promise you. We will leave as soon as you help us out a little. Tell me what you can, and then I'll deliver the message to the others, and we'll be on our way."

"Okay. Fair enough," The girl gave a friendly smile. Why don't we go back to my tent. I may have some things to explain with there."

"Sure. Lead the way."

"Dianti!" She called up to the earthbender, "Could you lift us now?"

"Coming!" He called. Within seconds, he slid his platform down next to the balcony again. Itachi and the girl boarded, and they were lifted up to the side of the cliff.

"Thanks." The girl said.

"No prob." Dianti gave her a thumbs-up, causing her to giggle a little.

To their left was a growing forest, lush and green, while to the right was an empty wasteland. At first, Itachi wondered where the tourists have gone so quickly. Then he figured that maybe there was a trolly or bus or something that carried them to the nearest village.

"This way." The girl said as she walked toward the forest. Itachi followed.

"What is your name?" He asked.

"Chai," She answered sweetly.

"That is a pretty name I must say," Itachi remarked.

"Why, thank you." She blushed slightly. "What is yours?"

"Itachi."

"That is... an unusual name."

* * *

><p>Another minute and they were at her tent. It was a large red tent, along side four others. It looked as large as a large wagon from the outside, and was quite roomy inside. Outside, there was a pot of black beans roasting over a crackling fire. Chai had a bowl, and offered Itachi one. After not eating for a couple of days, and wanting to be polite, Itachi accepted her kind offer.<p>

Itachi sat down on a rug with his bowl of beans, and dug in with his spoon. Inside Chai's tent, there was a bedroll, a large knapsack, and a few clothes laying around near it.

"I'm a bit of a slob, sorry," Chai chuckled.

"It's fine," Itachi smiled.

"You're so polite. So, what do you need to know?" She sat down across from him.

"Well, first off, we need to know where we are here. Do you have a map, perhaps?"

"Oh, sure. I have plenty of maps!" Chai reached over and grabbed her knapsack, and started rummaging around through one of the pockets, until she found a folded up piece of paper. She unfolded it, until it was about as big as a large unrolled scroll. She set it on the floor in front of Itachi, letting it face him so he could see clearly. Itachi got a good look at the whole avatar world.

"Okay, now we are here, at the western air temple," Said Chai, pointing to a small dot left of the red, skull-shaped island. "The world is divided into four cultures according to their elemets. There is the Fire Nation, the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, and Air Nomads." As she mentioned each culture, she pointed out their locations on the map.

Itachi was reminded somewhat of the Shinobi world, which was divided in a similar way. "And is each culture filled with warriors who specialize in using those elements?"

"Yes. Those gifted warriors are called benders. Well, actually, they're not all warriors, but a bender is anyone who can move any of the elements and use them for different things. The fire nation specializes in fire bending, the water tribes focus on water bending, and so on. But actually, different benders can be found all over the world."

"What about Dianti back there? Is he an Earthbender?"

"Yes! Exactly! He rarely uses his skill for fighting, only when we need to protect the ruins from robbers or vandals or someone. Mostly, his job here is to carry sight-seers up and down the cliff."

"I see." And then, Itachi remembered something from earlier. "Wait a minute, what about the Airbenders? I remember hearing from the tour that they were wiped out by someone you called Firelord Sozin."

Chai's mood suddenly went from excited to sad. "Oh, well, you see, about a hundred years ago, Firelord Sozin, the ruler of the Fire Nation at the time, had started a campaign to expand the Fire Nation's territory, and assimilate the other nations to it. This in turn, started a war that lasted for a hundred years. Normally, it would be the Avatar's duty to stop him, but Sozin knew that the next Avatar would be born into the air nomads, so he sent his army to raid the air temples, and massacre all the air nomads to try to stop his downfall..." She was nearly on the verge of tears now. "Can you imagine something so horrible! Slaughtering millions of lives just so you can proceed with your own agenda?"

"This Sozin was a very bad man, wasn't he?" Itachi said calmly.

"Yes! He was." Chai calmed down and dried her eyes on her sleeve. "But, that's all in the past now. Everything is much better now."

"So, anyway, I'm not exactly familiar with the Avatar," Itachi continued, remembering the mission. "Who exactly is he?"

"Well, I don't really know all the details, but the Avatar is the one person who is able to bend all four of the elements. He is also able to commune with the spirits of our world. He is tasked with bringing balance and peace to the world, preventing war, keeping the spirits happy, and overall, overseeing the good of the world and mankind. And when one Avatar dies, another is selected from another tribe by the spirits."

"And then the avatar was ended during the raid?" Itachi suddenly started to lose hope. So they had come here for nothing? The Avatar was dead?

"Luckily no. Back then, our current Avatar, Avatar Aang was selected. He _was_ an air nomad, but he ran away from home and unintentionally escaped the raid. But then he got caught in a storm, so he froze himself in a block of ice to save himself, and didn't break out until a hundred years passed. After that, basically, he made some friends, mastered the elements, then overpowered the fire nation and ended the war, bringing peace and balance to the world once again."

Itachi smiled, both of joy and relief. The mission was still on. "And I'm guessing now all of the three cultures are at peace, and are working together to rebuild the world that had been torn apart by the war?"

"Yes. Everything is alright now."

"_How_ long ago was the war ended?"

"Four years ago."

"Oh. I see. So that is the general state of the world, and what the avatar is."

"Yes. I don't know much more advanced information than that though."

"Oh, that's fine. I think I understand things much better now, and most of my questions are answered."

"Okay then. Good. I'm glad. So, will you go get your friends now and move off the temple grounds? I can give you directions to the nearest village."

Chai reached for her bowl again, and took a spoonful of beans. Itachi did not answer for a minute. He just looked at her, no emotions showing, with his red sharingan eyes.

"Chai, are you the only tour guide who works here for this program?" He asked finally.

"Huh?" She felt that was an awkward question, but answered anyway. "No. There are four others, and I don't normally like to brag, but between them, I'm probably the smartest."

_I'll bet._ Itachi thought. _Seems the program will not go out of business then if one guide drops out._

After another spoon, Chai set her bowl down at her criss-crossed legs, before she could pull her hands back, Itachi slowly reached out and took one of them. It was a soft, slightly cold, slender hand. She let out a soft squeal of shock as he grabbed her. She was so startled. Part of her wanted to scream and run off, but the other half was curious to see where this handsome man was going with her. She looked up at Itachi's face.

"Chai," He whispered seductively. His red eyes widened as he looked into her brown eyes. She could not turn away from his gaze. "You have been working hard, Chai. You deserve a vacation. You should pack your things, and go somewhere nice."

"Okay," She answered monotonously, "I think I will do that."

* * *

><p>Ten minutes later, a small flock of crows flew over the cliff, through the buildings of the temple, and back to the fountain landing. In a puff of smoke, Itachi reappeared in front of everyone.<p>

"Woah! Shit, Itachi! Quit doing that, will ya?" Hidan snapped.

"Here, have an rice ball!" Kisame, sitting on one of the down pillars, held out a rice ball and a beer bottle for Itachi. In his other hand was a half-eaten egg roll, likely with shrimp in it. Everyone else was sitting around having lunch and a few drinks.

"Thanks, Kisame." Itachi had a seat next to his partner and took the food and drink from him. He had finished his bowl of beans that Chai gave him, but he was still a little hungry. He bit into the delicious rice ball.

"So, how did it go?" Nagato asked after Zetsu fed him a sushi roll, "Did you find out the basic things we needed to know?"

"Yes." Itachi answered.

"Did you get laid?" Hidan smirked.

"No, Hidan."

"Seriously though," Sasori muttered, "what took you so long?"

"I was waiting until her tour was finished, I suppose."

"That was very smart, not interrupting." Madara remarked. "So, what have you learned?"

Over the next fifteen minutes, Itachi recited everything Chai had told him. About how the existance of the four cultures, three now, about the war that had been going on the last hundred years, and about bending. He also explained the basic idea of the avatar's powers, duties, and identity. He pointed out where they were, and also passed out five of Chai's maps that he stole from her knapsack. She had a few more so he did not think she would miss them. He gave one map to each two-man cell, and one for Madara.

"Very nicely done, Itachi," Madara remarked admiringly when he was done. "So, what happened to the tour guide?"

"Well, we couldn't have her remembering us and telling anyone about us, so I used my sharingan on her and sent her packing, on a vacation."

"Again, well done, Itachi," Nagato said.

"That's my buddy!" Kisame gave him a friendly punch in the shoulder, leading Itachi to giggle ever so slightly.

Madara looked over the map, thinking for a second, and then he got an idea. "Okay now. So, I think we still need to know more about the Avatar if we're going to face him." He said. "Itachi, did Chai have a picture of Aang or something?"

"No. She had nothing that revealed anything about Aang's identity."

"Did you check?" Hidan snickered.

"Quit talking shit, moron!" Kakuzu hissed.

"Kakuzu, you should know me enough by now to know that's like telling the sun not to burn."

"Oh, right."

"So yes. We still need to learn more about the Avatar," Madara continued. "So, here's what I'm thinking. We will split up into our teams, go out and explore different areas of the world, and then meet up again after three days, sharing what we learned and deciding our next move from there."

"I think that would be a great idea," Nagato replied. "Did you have any ideas for where to assign everyone to?"

"Actually yes." Madara placed his map on the ground, facing away from him, and everyone gathered around so they could get a good look.

Madara pointed to the different locations as he spoke. "I was thinking perhaps Itachi and Kisame would explore the Fire Nation here. Hidan and Kakuzu can take the western part of the Earth Kingdom. Sasori and Deidara, the eastern side. Nagato, Zetsu can take you to the Northern Water Tribe."

"And what about you, Madara?" Sasori asked.

"I think I'll tag along with you and Deidara. Maybe explore farther west than you will."

"What about the Southern Water Tribe?" Kakuzu asked suspiciously, "Why don't you explore down there?"

"I can't explain it exactly, but I have a feeling we should not go down there yet." Madara answered simply.

"Well... okay then I suppose." Deidara replied awkwardly.

"So, everyone understand your assigned location?" Madara continued.

Silence. No objections, until Kisame raised his hand.

"Hey, how are we all going to meet up again within the three-day time period?"

"Yeah, I don't think we can transmit to our hographic cave back in the shinobi nations from here," Sasori added, "too long a distance."

"While we were hiding from the tour, I took the liberty of finding a deserted cave in one of the mountains near here, and placed our chakra hologram projectors there. We will transmit to there for a discussion after sunset on the third day. Got it?"

Everyone nodded.

"Okay, so just to be clear, we meet up after three days, and does today count as the first day?" Hidan asked.

"Yes." Madara answered cooly. "Now remember, we still don't want to do anything that might draw attention to us. So try not to make any rash or impulsive decisions, any of you."

"That means you, Hidan," Kakuzu giggled.

"Shut the fuck up, man." Hidan snarled.

"And one more thing," Madara added, "if you should encounter the avatar in your journey, _do not_ engage him in any way."

"Okay then. I think we're all clear here." Nagato announced. "Let's move!"

"You got it, sir." White Zetsu said. Zetsu stood up, and gripped Nagato's shoulders and helped him to his feet, and whispered _Kyūkyoku no Kagero!_ (Ultimate Mayfly) Immediatly, a large plant-like mouth reached up from the floor and closed around both Zetsu and Nagato. "See you guys in three days," Black Zetsu called out before the mouth fully closed. Once closed, the mouth sank back down into the floor until it was completely submerged.

Everyone knew what was going on. Zetsu and Nagato were traveling now to the Northern Water Tribe village underground via Zetsu's mayfly technique. They would get there safely.

"Deidara," Madara said, "We're going to need those birds again."

"Coming right up, boss." Deidara reached into his clay bag.

"Not again!" Hidan whined, "We just got off those pieces of shit!"

"At least this time they're already made," Sasori muttered, "We don't have to wait for Deidara to sculpt them again."

"That is true," Said Madara.

Deidara took out three birds. He knew that they would need one for him and Sasori, Hidan and Kakuzu, and Madara.

"Itachi, Kisame," he turned to them, "you guys want a lift too?"

"No, that's okay," Itachi answered. "We are where we need to be. I think we'll walk."

"Yeah. I need to stretch my legs a bit!" Kisame added.

"Okay then." Deidara threw his birds on the floor. _Ka!_ Each one puffed up again into three big ones. Each team hopped on to one, same positions as before.

"This sucks!" Hidan snorted.

"Don't fret," Kakuzu said, "We should be across the sea in just a few hours."

"Let's fly!" Deidara cried as the birds started flapping again, and lifted off into the sky again, heading east. "Earth Kingdom, here we come!"

"Do you have any idea how lame you sound when you cheer stuff like that?" Sasori muttered.

"Aw, come on, lighten up buddy."

* * *

><p>It was a rather peaceful day in the south pole, under a blue sunny sky. Aang was off meditating out in the wilderness of the ice caps. He had spent the whole day in the village. He did some chores for Katara, played and cared for Tenzin a little, and now he was just meditating peacefully, doing his daily mental and spiritual exercises.<p>

He was visualizing peacefully a cold evening, no hard blizzards, and seeing the rainbow of colors that one sees at night at the poles. But suddenly, he was whisked away from the ice caps, and quickly dropped into a place that horrified him. A dead forest. Hundreds of trees cut down, burned, splintered. No grace either, just burned soil. All the animals there were dead too, and there was smoke and fire still in some areas.

It was horrible! Aang begged and prayed in his mind to be taken from this horrible place. It was then that the world melted away and became something just as bad, if not worse. It was a destroyed Earth Kingdom city, possibly Ba Sing Se. The Buildings were crushed, burning, reduced to rubble. Ash was flying through the air. The streets were broken up and cracked. There were corpses here and there, and everyone who was alive was badly injured, desperately trying to escape or save their loved ones. Aang turned around, and saw the Southern Water Tribe village, in just as bad a condition.

Aang fell to his knees, and shut his eyes, desperate to get the images out of his head. When he opened his eyes, it seemed to be nighttime in the south pole, but Aang could tell he was still in a spiritual vision. Suddenly, Roku's spirit appeared before him.

"Roku, what was that?" Aang asked desperately.

"Aang, I'm afraid a terrible evil as encroached into these lands. They are after the power of the Avatar, and will stop at nothing to find you and use your power for their own evil purposes. They mean to upset the balance of the whole world, and kill millions of lives to do so. You must stop them, or they will reduce the world to what you have just seen."

"No, that can't happen. I won't let that happen!" Aang snapped.

"I have faith in you Aang. I'm sure you will be able to handle this. But this new threat is very dangerous. Please be careful as you face them. Beware the men in the black and red cloacks!"

With that, Roku vanished, and Aang pulled out of his vision, as though he woke up from a nightmare. A horrible, dreadful nightmare. He was panting heavy, and in a cold sweat.

**Author's Note: Woah! How was that? I hope you all enjoyed chapter four. I will try to get on with the next one when I can. Please review, subscribe, or favorite. Thank you. **


	5. Ember Island

Itachi and Kisame trudged across the empty wasteland. The air and land was baking under the bright sun. It was in that kind of heat where one looks ahead, and the horizon seems to quaver. The duo did not mind too much. They had put on their conical straw hats, giving themselves some shade while also concealing their faces, not that there was anyone too observe them. A cool breeze gently blew across the plains as well.

It had been five minutes since they left the Western Air Temple. They had picked up all the trash that had been left after lunch, and dropped it off at a trash can at the top of the cliff. They had also sealed away the cooler in a supplies scroll. They would probably need it later, especially for the return trip.

"So," Kisame said at last, breaking a silence, "We have three days to learn as much as we can about the Avatar. Any idea where to start?"

"Let's head to the first village we come across," Itachi replied calmly. "We'll check out the library there. A library is always a great place to start research."

"Good point. Let's do that."

They continued walking for a few more hours, mostly in silence. After sitting on Deidara's birds for three days, and after that big lunch, they were eager for a hike, and to burn some calories.

"Hey, Itachi, how did things go with that Chai girl from the temple?" Kisame asked at one point.

"What do you mean? I interrogated her, got the general information we needed, and then hypnotized her to go on a vacation."

"What else?"

"Well, she did give me some beans, and I got our maps from her."

"Quit playing dumb with me, buddy," Kisame smiled, "You thought she was cute, didn't you?"

Itachi hesitated before answering. "Yes. She was rather attractive."

"Next time you see her, you should totally ask her out!"

"Kisame, I think we both know that's not likely to happen."

"Well, suppose it did happen, would you go out with her?"

"Kisame... Even if that did happen, I'm not sure I could do it."

"Aw, don't tell me the great Itachi Uchiha is shy!"

"No. It's not like that. It's just... you know how I killed my first girlfriend when I slaughtered my clan, right?" Itachi's voice started to trail off into a sad tone. "Do you have any idea how horrible I felt after that? After that, I was not sure I would ever be able to move on and find someone else. After that night, Sasuke became the only truly important person in my life... I mean besides you. You have become the closest thing I have to a friend now."

Itachi was grateful that his hat shielded his face from Kisame. Itachi was showing his softer side now, pouring out a little of his emotions to Kisame. He did not want to let him see his face now, or it would be complete.

"I thought I _am_ your friend." Kisame whispered.

"Of course you are." Itachi smiled under his hat. "But anyway, that's why I'm not sure I could ask out Chai if we met again."

"Itachi, I get it. Your first girlfriend was very precious to you. It truly tour yourself up to kill her. I know. But you have every opportunity to move on and find someone new. I mean with your good looks and your talents. You've seen how pretty much every girl we meet falls for you. Be glad you're not me. I'm a blue-skinned freak with gills!"

Itachi never really knew what to say when Kisame got upset like this. Kisame often felt bad about his odd appearance. Kids often pointed and got scared of him, teenagers stared. It was especially hard for Kisame that he was pared with Itachi, who looked so normal and was so attractive. Actually, really the only other akatsuki who looked freakier than Kisame was Zetsu.

"Kisame, I'm not really sure you're a people person anyway," Itachi finally said. He had brought up this argument often. "I mean, you enjoy killing, don't you?"

"Yes. I love killing and fighting." Kisame snickered.

"And would you really rather have sex with a woman who is willing so sleep with you than rape her?"

"I suppose that's not as fun..."

"You see? You're use to being 'a freak' at this point in your life. Besides, a lot of our comrades don't really care about your appearance, do they?"

"No, I suppose not." Kisame smiled. He was cheered up.

At last, they came to a beach at the end of the desert. Across the sea at the horizon was an island with some dark hills and a village.

"We'll check the library in that town over there." Said Itachi.

"Alright then!" They each headed to the water, started walking across the surface. Of course, at the level of ninjutsu they were at, they did not even have to concentrate to use their chakra to their feet to let them walk across such surfaces.

As they walked across the small bit of ocean between the two islands, Kisame smelled in the fresh, salty sea air. Naturally, this was his favorite kind of environment.

"We should probably walk in at a desolated place on the beach," Itachi said with a smirk. "If anyone sees us walking on water like this, they might think we're Jesus or something."

"You don't think they have people here who can walk on water?"

"Their waterbenders might be able to do it, but I'd rather not take that chance."

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later, Itachi and Kisame stepped off the wave that carried them up to the dry sand. The side of the beach they had come to was a thin narrow sand bar that was shadowed by a ledge. The place was pretty rocky for the most part as well. No one was in sight. Nobody had seen them.<p>

Itachi scanned to the left along the sand, and saw an opening between some rocks that formed a slight path.

"This way," he mumbled as he walked toward the path, Kisame following.

As they came over around the bend, they came across a much larger beach, seeming to curve around the incoming pool of water to the next side of the island. All over the wide beach they saw towels and umbrellas laying around, and of course, dozens upon dozens of beach-going teens, adults, and families. They were all relaxing, having fun, playing in the water, running around and laughing through the sand, all having a great, sunny summer day at the beach.

"This must be a hot vacation spot," Kisame smirked as they observed, "uh, no pun intended."

"So it seems," Itachi mumbled indifferently. He looked past the crowds, over the surrounding beach houses, and at the hills, and saw a stone path leading to the village they had seen earlier. He started walking toward it, and Kisame again followed.

As they walked through and around the beach-goers, they tried to avoid people as much as they could, but people were staring when they were noticed. Of course, it was not because they had any idea who these two were, but because of the way they were dressed at the beach, wearing cloaks and those hats, not to mention Kisame's sword strapped on his back.

Back in the Shinobi Nations, the two were use to people staring at them when they went through villages, mostly because of their infamous cloaks, and because of when they saw their faces and recognized them. They tried not to notice the eyes and whispers.

* * *

><p>Before long, the beach was behind them and they had come up the stone tile path to the village of orange-roofed, white brick houses. The streets were busy with people, most of which seemed like peasants.<p>

One man was pushing a cart of hay through the streets up ahead, seeming somewhat isolated from most of the other people. Itachi and Kisame walked up to him.

"Excuse me, sir," Itachi said, "Could you direct us toward the library?"

The middle-aged man looked over toward the two men talking to him. They looked so spiffy in their cloaks and hats, and seemed so outlandish compared to everyone else in the village.

"Library?" He repeated, "That's just over there." He pointed across the street to a wide building that looked somwhat like a monastery.

"Thank you," Itachi nodded. And with that, he and Kisame headed across the street.

As they entered the library, they found it somewhat disappointing. It was about as large as a royal dining room, with only about three bookcases in the whole room, one on the left side of the entrance and two on the right all of which only seemed about half full, although the walls had bookshelves on them. Also on the left side behind the bookcase was a desk at which sat a librarian in his late fifties, with a light beard and thick glasses, reading a book.

"I have a feeling we aren't going to learn much here," Kisame muttered.

Without replying, Itachi removed his hat, and set it on the coat rack, and walked up toward the librarian's desk. After another second, he looked up from his book at Itachi.

"Good afternoon, son." He said kindly, "Can I help you?"

"Yes, I'm looking for a book about the Avatar."

"The avatar, eh? Well, let's see now." The man got up from his chair and walked over toward the bookshelf.

"Now, this isn't a very good library," The man continued as he ran his finger through the books. "Most folks come to ember island on vacation. People here aren't really big on knowledge and learning. The school here is decent, but if you want a really good education, you should try the schools and colleges in the colonies, or the mainland of the nation. The absolute best campus in the whole Nation is in Capital city."

"I'll keep that in mind," Itachi whispered.

"Ah, here we go!" The man pulled out a small blue book from the shelf. "Here's the best book we got on the Avatar." He handed it to Itachi.

Itachi looked the cover over for a moment. It had a picture of a meditating silhouetted figure with glowing blue eyes. The title also read "The Avatar for Morons".

"Don't get offended by the title son," The man said somewhat frantically, "we just don't have anything more informative than that."

"Thank you." Itachi muttered before turning to walk back over to Kisame. The man turned back to his desk.

"Here's what they got." Itachi said.

"I'll get a pen and paper for notes," Kisame replied as he walked up to the desk again.

The duo spent the next couple of hours sitting on the floor, up against the wall like high school students, reading that book, and taking notes on anything that seemed important to them. As it seemed, since the beginning, since man was brought into the world, there had always been conflict between man themselves, and between man and the spirits that incarnated nature.

Both man and spirits alike desired to have someone help to solve their conflicts, and so, the spirits chose the first Avatar, man of the Air Nomads named Otoko, to help settle such conflict. To give him authority, the spirits gave him the potential to bend all four elements, and to communicate with the spirits. Men were destroying the environment, so Otoko settled it with success, making everyone happy. Otoko was a wise and kind man, and he used his powers for the good of all, never for selfish reasons.

And then, when Otoko died, the spirits figured another avatar would be needed to settle any future conflict, so they selected another person similar to Otoko in the water tribe to settle any conflicts. And when that person passed, the spirits selected someone from the Earth Kingdom, and then the Fire Nation, and then the cycle has repeated itself to this very day.

"So, the avatar is an ally not only to the humans of these cultures, but also to all animals, plants, and spirits as well?" Kisame observed.

"It would seem that way," Itachi replied. "It seems if we were to kill the avatar and observe its power, wars and conflicts will start, and the environment will be destroyed, upsetting the spirits, and overall, hell would break loose."

"Well, sucks for them!" Kisame laughed.

Itachi did not respond beside his usual facade. In all honesty, he did not like fighting or war or death. Still, his duty was to his world, not this one. Why should he care what killing the Avatar would do to these nations?

"I think that's all we're going to learn from this dingy book." Itachi muttered at last, getting up. He walked back to the desk and gently placed the book on top. "Again, thank you sir."

"Anytime, sonny," The librarian replied without looking up from his book.

Itachi walked back outside where Kisame was waiting for him with his hat on. Itachi put his own on likewise.

"Alright, now what?" Kisame asked impatiently.

"Well, the librarian said that the best library in the Fire Nation was in the Capital college campus, why don't we-"

"No!" Kisame shouted, interrupting him, "Do we _have_ to go to another library?"

"Yes, unless you have a better idea for a source besides books," Itachi answered sternly.

Kisame grumbled. He was clearly bored. "Well, can we at least take a break and go have some fun at the beach?"

Itachi looked at his partner for a moment, and then past him down toward the beach. He saw everyone down there still having a fun time.

"I suppose there's no harm in going down there for a little while," he shugged finally. "After all, we have two full more days to explore this nation and learn."

"Yes!" Kisame hissed, clenching his fist. And the two started speed walking down toward the beach again.

* * *

><p>There was a towel shack along the beach houses. The duo had grabbed up one and an umbrella, and have found a spot out a few spaces over from the others. They had both left their cloaks around there too. Kisame now had his shirt off, revealing his muscular, but blue upper body. Itachi kept on his black T-shirt with his protective light armor underneath. As Itachi took off his cloak, a few bystanding girls started to giggle and swoon, much to Kisame's displeasure.<p>

After a second, a few girls came up to them, the three of them giggling at sight of Itachi.

"Hey, you wanna come play Kuai Ball with us?" Asked one tan girl with dark hair. She gestured back to the net where some boys were throwing a ball over.

Itachi turned to Kisame to see what he would think.

"Go on, I'll be fine." Kisame smiled at him.

With that, Itachi smiled and said a cheerful "okay" to the girls, leading to some screams of glee as he followed them to the volleyball court.

Kisame sat on the towel for a moment. He still was a little upset that no ladies were really impressed by his muscles. They were probably a little more freaked out by his skin color and gills. But just then, he smelled something that got his mind right off girls.

He looked over at the source of the smell at a shack with some grills and flames coming out from straw ovens. _Shrimp Kabobs!_ His mouth already watering, Kisame's body walked toward the shack, almost as if in a trance.

Itachi was having fun with Kuai Ball. One girl on his team did an overhand serve. A boy on the opposite team in the back did an underhand hit back, and the ball swung up toward Itachi's spot. Overhand, he hit the ball back toward the middle. A girl leaped down into the sand, narrowly hitting the ball back.

"I got it!" Itachi ran up to the nearly unprotected middle front of his side, took a big leap, and palmed the ball hard, sending it smashing down into the sand where the last girl stood. She was still on the ground, so she could not hit it back.

All the girls on both teams sighed and oogled Itachi, impressed by his skill at the game. The guys, however, gave him some evil eyes for getting all the girls.

The game went on like that for another ten minutes before Itachi got bored and left. He walked back to his and Kisame's spot, where Kisame was happily munching down on a delicious-smelling shrimp kabob, with only a few shrimps, onions, and peppers remaining. He had another one in his other hand he had not eaten yet.

"How was your game?" Kisame asked after swallowing.

"It was fun." Itachi smiled.

"Here, have a shrimp kabob." Kisame held out his free kabob.

"Oh, thanks." Itachi took the kabob and took a bite of the tasty shrimp on top, and sat down next to his partner. He rarely ate meet. In fact, he tried to be a vegetarian most of his life. Fish, though, was not normal meat, so he occasionally went for it.

"Hey, you know that_ thing_ I like to do at the beach sometimes?" Kisame said, "I was thinking of doing that."

Itachi looked up at him in a little shock. "Kisame, Madara said _not_ to cause a lot of trouble. We don't want to draw attention until we're ready."

"Don't worry." Kisame grinned menacingly. "You know my methods. No body will know I was there."

Itachi frowned for a second. "Oh, alright then."

Kisame's grin widened. He grabbed his sword lying down on the ground, and held it under his arm for a minute. _Snake, Boar, Dog, Serpent, Shark. Chiton: Chika sensui-kan no kōkai Jutsu!_ (Earth Release: Underground submarine voyage). Kisame sank into the sand with his sword. Than his sword's edge popped up again from the sand. After that, the sword sped off toward the water.

Itachi stood up with his kabob, and slowly followed the 'fin' to the edge of the water, getting ready to watch the show.

Kisame submerged the fin underwater as he dove out of the sand and into the cool, refreshing salt water. Up above him, there were dozens of people splashing around, surfing, or treading water, swimming around.

_Let's see,_ Kisame thought, _who to pick off first?_ That was when he saw a fat hairy man above the water, playing around, probably throwing his child around in the water, thrilling him. _You'll do._ Kisame swam closer to him.

"Again, daddy!" The little boy cheered.

"Ha! Okay, okay," His father laughed, "one more time! Come here."

The boy doggy-paddled closer to him, but before he could touch his arms, the man suddenly felt somehting sharp grasp his leg, and pull him under.

"Huh? Daddy?" The boy gasped, suddenly terrified.

Suddenly, Kisame's head popped out of the water, his face and chest all covered with blood, and growled at the kid.

"AHHHHH!" The boy shrieked and pointed, "MONSTER!"

Everyone turned startled to the blood covered blue creature, and also noticed the pool of blood. Kisame sank below the surface again before anyone could get a good look at him.

"Shark!" Someone cried.

Immediately, everyone started screaming and crying and calling out to friends to get out. They all frantically started grabbing and running, not even swimming, to the shore. Another teenage boy was dragged under by Kisame, and a pool of blood appeared on the water.

It wasn't before long that some people were out of the water that they grabbed their stuff, and ran off the beach, either for the hills, the beach houses, or the village.

Itachi actually thought it was pretty funny the way everyone was thrown into such a state of panic, just watching them scatter and scramble. He cracked a smile, and started to giggle ever so silently. He bit a green pepper off his kabob.

Kisame pulled under an elderly man next, then bit into his abs, tearing off a large chunk of flesh. He never ate people when doing this, just like sharks never really ate humans.

_Ah, look at them scramble!_ Most people had scrambled out of the water by now.

At last, he released his final kill, and then reached down to grab his sword. Then he went on another swim through the water to wash off the blood and semen. When he was all washed off, he rose to the surface again, and hopped out, standing on the water. He looked around. The beach was completely empty, except for Itachi in the middle, who was looking over at his sociopathic partner, and smiling.

All over the beach, there were foldable chairs thrown about, some splintered. Umbrellas lay over, turned over, and rolling about in the wind. Half-eaten food dropped into the sand. Blood stained the sand where some injured bystanders were. They were either injured by Kisame, or they ran into or stepped on each other in their panic.

At last, Kisame walked over and stood beside his partner.

"Do I know how to clear a beach or what?" Kisame laughed.

"That was probably the best beach panic you've ever caused, my friend," Itachi smirked. "I mean, did you see them scramble? They were like, 'Ah! A shark! Mommy! Get me out of here!'" He started running around and dancing and making the funny faces the people made.

Kisame started laughing hysterically, and soon his partner joined in.

"I tore off the guts of this one guy," Kisame cackled. "He was like 'AHHH! MY GUTS! MY GUTS ARE SPILLING OUT!' HA!"

"And then there was this one guy who slipped on a shell! He was so scared, he didn't even get up! He just started running ahead on all fours!"

"OH! That must have been priceless!"

The two continued laughing for almost another half hour. By then, the sun was starting to set, and turning the horizon orange. Kisame had not laughed like this in a long time. Neither had Kisame, but Itachi more so. As said before, normally he did not like such brutality, but when Kisame went on a rampage such as this, it brought out the inner sadist in him. Kisame put his arm around him to support himself, clutching his side with his other hand.

They continued laughing for another few minutes. Until finally, they started to die down.

Just then, a buff teenage boy with a nice tan and no shirt came running down upon the beach. "Shingan!" He shouted, "Shingan!" He ran up to Itachi and Kisame.

"Hey, have either of you two seen my girlfriend?" He asked, somewhat rushed. "We came down here today, then there was a shark attack, and I ran off. I thought she was right behind me."

"What does she look like?" Itachi asked.

"She's about this tall," The boy put a hand under his neck, "She's got bright blond hair, blue eyes, and a really hot tan."

"I think I know her," Kisame smirked. "She's over there." He pointed to the mutilated corpse just washed up on the shore.

The boy ran to it and held it close. It was someone Kisame killed. Once he recognized her, the boy, held her close and started crying.

"You know, kid," Kisame whispered, "It wasn't a shark that killed her."

The boy stopped crying for a moment, and turned his head to look at Kisame, with a confused look. "Wh-What do you mean?"

"_I_ was the shark out there!" Kisame grinned menacingly. "I caused that big panic! There was no real shark!"

"What?" The boy rose up from the ground on his own feet, and suddenly, he looked angry.

His eyes still teary, the boy gritted his teeth. "I'll kill you!" He leaped forward, fists at the ready, staring daggers at Kisame.

"Oh, don't waste your life, kid!" Before the boy could blink, Kisame lurched in front of him, and kicked him hard in the stomach, sending him flying back.

Just then, a crazy idea popped into Kisame's head.

"Hey, Itachi."

"Yeah?"

"How about we interrogate this guy to see what he knows about the Avatar?"

Itachi looked indifferently at the boy who was crawling out of the water. "You son of a bitch!" He spat, coughing blood and water. That kick did a lot of damage to him.

"Kisame, do you really think he will have any valuable knowledge?" Itachi asked.

"It's better than going to a library, if you ask me." Kisame shrugged. "Besides, now that he know's about us, we kind of need to keep him quiet, don't we?"

"Hm. Point taken." And they started walking closer to the boy, who was clutching his side in pain as he rose to his feet.

"Alright, kid," Kisame hissed, "We got some questions for you."

"I'm not telling you shit!" The boy spat.

"Oh, I think you will." Itachi mumbled, as he walked up to the boy. The boy looked into the tall man's strange red eyes, and became a little scared.

_Mangekyō Sharingan!_ Itachi's eyes shifted to their shuriken-like pattern. He stared back into the boy's dark eyes, and the boy just sat their silently, caught under Itachi's spell.

After another second, Itachi's eyes reverted back to normal, though the boy remained where he was.

"I think I'll go home now." The boy mumbled like a zombie, and he slowly walked past the duo, heading to the trail that lead back to the village.

"So, what did he know?" Kisame asked curiously.

"The ruler of this Nation, Fire Lord Zuko, is a close friend of Avatar Aang," Itachi replied. "It seems that during the war, Zuko was banished by his father, Ozai. Ozai said that if Zuko returned home with the Avatar, his place would be restored. So for the majority of the last year of the war, Zuko had tried to capture Aang, but in the end, he realized how wrong his actions were, so he redeemed himself by teaching Aang firebending, and then took back the Fire Nation from his Sister, Azula, and became the current Fire Lord and now is trying to redeem the honor of the Fire Nation."

"Wow. That's a mouthful," Kisame laughed. And then another idea struck him. "So, if Zuko and Aang are such good friends, maybe we should go pay Zuko a visit, and see what we can get out of him! He's got to be a better source than any stupid library!"

Itachi put a hand to his chin to think about this. "That's actually not a bad idea, Kisame."

"Alright! So, where can we find him?"

"The Fire Lord's palace is in the Nation Capital. Don't worry. I got directions on how to get there from here too."

"Excellent then," Kisame grinned again. "Next stop, the Fire Nation Capital!"

Itachi smiled back. "Let's get moving. We'll cover as much ground as we can tonight, and worry about stopping later. Come. Let's grab our cloaks."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in the Fire Nation Royal Palace, Zuko and Mai were out on one of the balconies together, over looking the city. Mai was combing her raven hair, standing up near the railing, Zuko was sitting down on bench, staring lovingly at his beautiful wife.<p>

"Zuko," Mai said after a moment, "How would you like to have our baby on Ember Island? We can redecorate your dad's old beach house."

"I think that's a wonderful idea," Zuko whispered. "It's about time to make some new memories of that place." He briefly remembered the summers he had spent with his whole family. He imagined how wonderful it would be with Mai and their child.

"I know the perfect spot for the baby's room," Mai continued with a smile, "In that one room that overlooks both the sea and the rest of the island. And perhaps we can turn the courtyard into a garden."

"And then we could spend a week there every summer? Maybe longer?"

"That would be wonderful." Mai stopped brushing her hair for a moment, and took a second to look at her handsome husband, and sat down next to him.

"You're so beautiful," He whispered.

"Only because I'm so in love." She smiled and blushed.

"It's also because I'm so in love with you."

Suddenly, Mai frowned. "When you say it like that, it sounds like love's blinded you."

"Well, that's not how I meant it." Zuko laughed.

They leaned in and shared a passionate kiss.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps. Out came a guard. "Forgive me, my lord," he said with a bow, "but the inspector has something that needs your attention."

Annoyed that the moment was ruined, Zuko turned to Mai, who clearly was equally annoyed.

"I'll be back in a moment," He said with a smile.

"Okay."

Zuko got up and followed the guard. downstairs to the Fire Lord's quarters where Inspector Jiǎnchá was waiting. Jiǎnchá, a twenty-five-year-old Fire Nation Officer, was one of the best inspectors in the Fire Nation. She had solved nearly every case she was put up against. She was also a skilled firebender, as were her two assistants, Ching and Chang, two twin officers in the Fire Nation defense who have been assigned to her subordinates.

As Zuko walked along the Fire Lord's aisle, and sat down in his throne, Jiǎnchá, Ching and Chang each kneeled before him in a bow. Jiǎnchá had black lips and a mole on her left cheek, and black hair and green eyes. Ching and Chang were in their early thirties, and had grey goatees and amber eyes each. They were completely identical. They each wore a royal Fire Nation High Rank Officer uniform.

Zuko sat at his throne, looking down on his subjects from behind the flames.

"Fire Lord Zuko," Jiǎnchá addressed him respectfully.

"What is the problem, Inspector?"

"We recieved a disturbing message just now from Ember Island Coast Guard. A couple hours ago, there seemed to be a shark attack on a beach." She held the scroll in front of her and read off it. "Four people were killed, sixteen injured."

Zuko's eyes widened. Those factors really were disturbing. "That doesn't sound like an ordinary shark attack to me, Inspector. There hasn't been a shark attack on Ember Island in two years, let alone a fatal one where four people died. Usually one or two people die or get injured."

"My concern exactly, sir," Jiǎnchá replied. "Shall we leave for Ember Island and look into it?"

"Yes. Murder will not be not be tolerated in the Fire Nation."

"We will get to the bottom of this, Sir." And with that, Jiǎnchá stood up, did the traditional Fire Nation Bow, and turned to leave. Her assistants stood up, bowed and turned likewise.

Once they left the throne room, Zuko stood up to go back to see Mai. Jiǎnchá would take care of the rest, and update him on future occurrences. It was pretty troubling that a criminal murdered four people and made it seem like a shark attack. Did he train sharks or something? Well, anyway, Zuko was confident that Jiǎnchá could handle it.

On the way up the stairs, as he was walking through the hallway, he ran into his mother and Uncle, who were just walking along and chatting.

"Good evening, Fire Lord Zuko," Iroh smiled to his nephew.

"Hi Uncle, Mom," Zuko smiled back at them.

"Your uncle made a nice hot pot of Jasmin Tea," Ursa said. "Would you care to join us?"

"That would be nice," Zuko whispered, "Can I go get Mai?"

"I'm sure Mai would love some too," Iroh grinned.

* * *

><p>Soon, the four of them were all sitting in the Fire Lord's private quarters, sitting on a couch together, sipping the delicious, warming tea. Zuko and Mai sat on one couch while Ursa and Iroh sat across from them<p>

"So? What did the Inspector want tonight?" Ursa asked.

Zuko frowned at that. "There was a shark attack on Ember Island today," He said grimly. "Four people were killed."

"Four?" Iroh was totally shocked. "That doesn't sound like any normal shark attack to me."

"That's what I thought," Zuko replied. After a second, he smiled and relaxed. "But I'm sure whatever the problem is, Jiǎnchá will get to the bottom of it. She usually does."

Just then, Mai's eyes widened. "Oh, hold on a second. I think I left my hair brush on the balcony." She got up and headed for the door.

Zuko was actually happy that Mai had to leave. There was something on his mind that he wanted to talk to his mom and uncle about. Apparently, Iroh wanted to talk to him about the same thing.

"So, Zuko," He said warmly, "How does it feel, knowing that you're going to be a father?"

"Well..." Zuko thought for a second. "I'm mostly happy about it, but, I'm also very nervous."

"Of course you're nervous," Ursa smiled. "Every future parent is nervous about taking on the responsibility of their first child."

"You should have seen me the last few months before Lu Ten was born!" Iroh laughed.

"Well, the thing is," Zuko continued, "I'm really not sure I'll turn out to be a good father. I'm afraid I'll be like_ my_ father."

Both Iroh and Ursa turned serious at those last few words. They glanced at each other, and then back at Zuko.

"Zuko," Iroh said seriously, "You are nothing like Ozai. You are a different man from the man you were five years ago."

"You're going to be a great father, Zuko," Added Ursa. "You have told me that you've thought of your uncle as a better father than Ozai was, right? Which of course he is, I mean. Just try to parent your child, watch over him or her like Iroh did for you for most of your adolescence."

"Okay, I guess I could try that," Zuko stuttered nervously. He remembered the few times he had tried to offer his friends his Uncle's guidance and wisdom. Those few times had not worked out well, but when he really tried to do that, he did well.

"And don't forget," Ursa added, "Being a parent is something you and your wife work together on. You and Mai are in the whole thing together."

"Well, that's true." Zuko found some comfort knowing that.

"And of course, you'll have us to help you out whenever you need it," Iroh smiled.

"You'll be fine, Zuko," Ursa smiled."Thank you, both of you." Zuko was even more reassured about it.

Just then, Mai came back in with her hairbrush. "Found it." She said simply. She sat down again next to Zuko. "So, what did I miss?"

"We were just talking about the baby, Mai," Ursa answered happily before sipping her tea again.

"What about it?"

"I'm just nervous about being a father," said Zuko.

"Well,_ I'm_ nervous about being a mother."

"Like we just told Zuko," Iroh interjected, "You'll be fine. You both will. Parenthood is something that the parents must work together on, so you two will be fine as long as you stand by each other."

"And we'll help you out whenever we can," Ursa added.

"Thank you," Mai smiled after a second of thinking. She picked up her tea cup and sipped.

Zuko smiled. His nation was in great order, and his family was being held together well, save his sister and father in prison. In another week, Iroh was to return to Ba Sing Se to his tea shop, the Jasmin Dragon. It was sad that he only stayed at the palace for such short times, but everyone had loved the times he did. So he sat there with a smile on his face, drinking tea with his family, unaware that his Nation, family, and life were all now in mortal danger.

* * *

><p><strong>Omake Bonus:<strong>

At midday, the five akatsuki en route to the Earth Kingdom were still flying over the ocean Madara, Sasori, and Deidara were in front with Kakuzu and Hidan just behind them. Hidan was goin stir crazy.

"AH! This is so boring!" He yelled. "When the fuck are we gonna get there, Deidara?"

Up ahead, Deidara did not turn or answer.

"Hey, Deidara! Can you even hear me?" Still no response

"Either he can't hear you over the wind," Kakuzu muttered, "or he's ignoring you. Either way, he's not going to answer your question."

"Are you fucking serious?" Hidan snapped. He jumped up and started ranting. "We've been flying around the ocean for three fucking long days, then we finally find land, and now we gotta fly again to the Earth Kingdom? You've got to be kidding me! I'm so sick of flying!"

"Sit down and shut up!" Kakuzu hissed, "or I'll push you off the bird right now!"

"You know what? I don't care if I fall! Anythings better than sitting around two hundred feet in the air doing nothing!"

Kakuzu took a breath, and tried to speak calmly to his partner. "Don't you think it's fun, gazing down on all the wonderous landscapes from an ariel point of view? I'm sure this is how your Jashin views everything from Heaven."

"First off, Lord Jashin views everything from Hell, not Heaven. Second, the landscapes are _not_ fun to look at when all you can see for the next hundred miles is the fucking ocean! Ah! I'm just so fucking bored!"

Hidan started jumping around swinging his fists around. Suddenly, he lost his balance, and his body tilted back a little. Kakuzu noticed, but he did not move, yet.

"AHHH!" Hidan screamed as he slipped off the back of the bird, and plummeted toward the ocean. Finally, after a second, Kakuzu's arm shot out by his threads, and grabbed Hidan by the collar of his cloak, stopping his fall.

Just swaying there for a minute, and looking down at the ocean below his dangling feet, Hidan took a second to catch his breath.

"Phew! Thanks Kakuzu!" He called up after a second.

Kakuzu, however, did not look down toward him, or start reeling him up.

"Okay, uh, Kakuzu, you can pull me up now!"

Kakuzu still did not move. His arm just dangled there.

Finally, Hidan tugged on one thread in Kakuzu's arm. Kakuzu's head, also hanging by threads, was lowered down to face Hidan.

"What?" Kakuzu asked annoyed.

"What the fuck are you waiting for? Pull me back up."

"No."

"What? Why not?"

"Two reasons. One, I finally have some space and some quiet time up here. Second, you won't learn anything if I take you up now."

"Oh, fuck you!"

"Struggle too much, and I swear I'll drop you."

Hidan growled and looked down at the ocean below him. Kakuzu had him beat. Kakuzu's head reeled back up to his body to enjoy the ride for a while.

**Author's Comments: And that's the end of chapter five. I Hope everyone enjoyed it. **

**Fun fact: You know that girl that Kisame killed that the boy was crying over? Originally, I had Kisame rape and drown that girl, but then I found out that lemons are against the rules on this site (ain't that a bitch?) so I had to take that part out to keep this story up on here.**

**Reviews, Favoring and Subscribing are appreciated.**


	6. Last Stops

"Men in black and red cloaks?" Katara repeated.

"Yeah. That's what Roku said," Aang answered. "They will cause all that damage and destruction I saw." He, Katara, and Hakoda all sat within an igloo, discussing Aang's vision. Sokka would have been there, but he had convinced Suki to let him come to Kyoshi Island with her so they could spend some time together.

"Red and black," Hakoda said again. A hand was on his chin as he thought. "Sounds like the colors of the Fire Nation."

Aang gasped at a sudden, horrible thought. "You don't think Zuko would start another war, would you?"

"No, he wouldn't," Katara replied, somewhat sternly. "I know him better, and so do you, Aang. Zuko is doing his best to restore his honor, and the honor of the Fire Nation. He is a good man now, and he would never do something like that again!"

"Well, there has to be another explanation for the colors." Aang said reassuringly. "Maybe there's an evil village or organization in the Fire Nation with those colors?"

"Or maybe they're not Fire Nation at all," Katara added, "Maybe there's another village in the Earth Kingdom or something?"

"Why don't you fly over to the Fire Nation and go see Iroh?" Hakoda said, "Maybe he has an idea."

"That's a great idea, sir!" Aang exclaimed happily. "I'll do that. Thanks." And with that, He stood up, bowed respectfully to Hakoda and Katara, and headed out of the hut.

"Thanks, Dad." Katara smiled at her father.

"No problem. I'm glad I could help." He smiled back. Katara walked out of the tent after Aang.

As she walked though the large, now thriving village. There was a large span of igloos, large segments and blocks of street away from each other. She had just left Hakoda's office. As the chief of the tribe, Hakoda had a large igloo that was specially labled. In the streets, children ran and played and laughed. Women stood outside their igloos, hanging clothes and pelts on finely woven strings for clothes lines. Men carried around food and catches. Some sat down sharpening their spears, or talking with family or friends. There were even a couple water benders using water bending for menial tasks like fetching water from the earth, cooking stew, even washing clothes. Everyone was pretty happy.

It was hard to believe that only five years ago, the Southern Water Tribe was just about five huts, and fifteen people, including children. Look at it now. Ever since the war ended, the Northern Tribe has done well to restore the South to its original glory.

Katara had done well in her part in that as well. As a waterbending master, she started an academy, training young water benders in the ways of all the styles she had learned in her travels. She had also written her techniques in plenty of scrolls, and became the tribe's top healer. So between her lessons, healing sessions, and caring for Tenzin, she was usually pretty busy. Usually when Aang was not off on his Avatar duties, he would stay and care for Tenzin, leaving her to deal with her other duties. She actually had another waterbending class in about ten minutes. She was just going to see Aang off.

He was in their igloo, which contained two bedrolls, and the basket cradle which held Tenzin, string between two large stalagmite icicles which Katara had raised with her water bending, and with a little mobile up top, hanging from the ceiling from fine thread, dangling funny shaped bones, teeth, and ice figures. There was also a few knapsacks and satchels and flasks in the corner that contained traveling supplies, along side Aang's staff. All of their clothes and rags were outside on a clothesline. There were two of these. One of Aang and the baby's outfits hung on one, while the other supported one of Katara's. It was warm in the igloo too, warmer than outside. There was one small window that let some light into the room. Appa slept outside the igloo, out in the open where he liked to be. Aang took him on flights and walks daily when they just sat around the village.

Aang was standing over the cradle, looking down at his little son, who was slowly waking up from a nap. He rubbed his little eyes, and grinned and squeaked happily at the sight of his father. Aang gently placed his hand on Tenzin's soft, little cheek.

"Don't worry," He smiled happily at him with confidence, "No bad people are going to harm you. I promise." Aang would not know what he would do if he let anything happen to his son. He loved him so, and Katara would be devastated as well.

"Of course you won't let anyone harm him," Katara's voice whispered happily as she walked in through the pelt door.

Not surprised, Aang turned to face his lovely wife. "That goes for you too," Aang turned to her. "I won't let anything happen to either of you."

"I know you won't. I love you, Aang."

"I love you too, Katara." They stepped into each other's arms and shared a passionate hug.

I'll be back soon," He whispered as they pulled away. Using his airbending, he pulled his staff right into his hand, and his knapsack into this other, which he strapped up easily. Momo, who was sleeping in his own little basket in the corner until Aang came in, hopped onto Aang's shoulder with a chitter.

"Sorry, Momo," Aang laughed. "You came with me last few times. You need to stay here this time. Tenzin's been missing his favorite playmate."

With another, sadder chitter, Momo's ears drooped down. He understood. He hopped off of Aang's shoulder and onto one of the stalagmites holding up Tenzin's cradle, and looked down over at the giggling infant.

"You two place nice until I get back," Aang said with a smile. He reached up, and tapped the mobile hanging above, causing the little figures to spin. Tenzin and Momo looked up, fascinated by the twirling shapes.

"See ya in a couple of days," Aang whispered to Katara.

"Take as much time as you need," She replied lovingly. "Whatever these men in black cloaks are up to, they're no match for the Avatar."

Aang smiled as he turned for the door. He walked through the pelt door, and around back where Appa was seated, fully awake.

"Hey, buddy," Aang smiled at his lifelong friend, "Ready for another flight to the Fire Nation?"

Appa groaned, and got to his feat. He sounded pretty indifferent about the trip.

Aang leaped up onto Appa's head, and tossed his bag and staff back onto the saddle. Katara came out of the igloo. Tenzin, bundled up in a white cloth, was cradled in her arms, with Momo on her shoulder. With her free arm, she waved goodbye to him. He waved in return.

"Yip-Yip!" Appa groaned as he lifted his tail, crouched down, and pushed forth and upward into the air. Within seconds, the Southern Water Tribe Village became as small as a toy village to Aang and Appa. They glided over the miles of icy plains and glaciers, and soon over the iceberg-ridden sea, heading off toward the Fire Nation.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, elsewhere over the sea, the five remaining Akatsuki were still in the middle of their own flight. By now, the sun had started setting, lighting up the sky in a beautiful orangish-pinkish glow, which was beautifully reflected by the ocean. Kakuzu had lifted Hidan, who had finally become quiet about an hour ago, back up onto their bird.<p>

"Are we almost there?" Sasori groaned.

"Yeah, I'm getting a little tired of flying myself," Madara called over, his bird flying pretty close to Deidara's and Sasori's.

Before answering, Diedara looked ahead again through his scope eye. He saw an approaching coast of high rock, with green land and a forest peaking at the top. There was also a round island with a large inlet a few miles off from it,

"Land ho!" Deidara shouted excitedly, As much as he loved flying, he was just as eager to reach his destination as his comrades were.

"Well, finally," Sasori muttered with his arms crossed.

"Really? For real?" Hidan exclaimed, "Finally! It's about fucking time! You better not be shitting us, Deidara."

"No. I swear we're almost there!" Deidara called back to him.

A few more minutes, and the three birds were flying over the forest. Deidara turned back to Sasori with a grin. Sasori could tell what the grin implied, and smiled back and nodded at his partner. Deidara turned back to Kakuzu and Hidan's bird.

"Alright!" He shouted over, "Kakuzu, Hidan, this is where you guys get off!"

"Okay, drop us off anywhere," Kakuzu shouted in response.

"How about right here?" Deidara called back, smirking.

It was not until too late that Kakuzu noticed that smirk. His mind shuddered. "Hidan, brace yourself," He hissed to his partner.

"For what?"

Too late. Deidara raised his hands to the ram seal. _Ka! _

The bird with Hidan and Kakuzu instantly burst into flames and smoke with a loud _bang_.

* * *

><p>The explosion was so big and so loud that it could be seen and heard on Kyoshi Island.<p>

Sokka and Suki were out having a picnic in a grove of trees when they heard it, disrupting their peaceful time together.

They looked out toward the mainland where the sound had come from. They could see a small puff of smoke in the distance.

"Whoa! What the hell was that?" Sokka exclaimed.

"I don't know," Suki replied. She was getting serious. Her first alarm had been triggered. "Whatever it was, it was big to have caused an explosion like that. The girls and I should check it out later. It might be a threat."

"Yeah, it could be," Sokka added. "But how about we just enjoy this picnic until then." His attitude became happy again. He held out the plate of grapes for her.

"Okay." She took a grape from the plate and popped it into her mouth.

* * *

><p>Kakuzu and Hidan were flung upwards by the explosion. Hidan escaped with only a few burns, while Kakuzu had hardened his body utilizing Earth Release. Their clothes were not disturbed.<p>

When gravity started to kick in and pull them back towards Earth, Kakuzu's threads burst out from his shoulder blades, tearing through his cloak. They spread out and laced together, forming wings of a sort. The wings reached out, and wind flew under them, creating lift force and catching him, slowing his fall, like a parachute.

Hidan, on the other hand, was screaming as he plummeted toward the trees below.

_Hmph, if I must._ Kakuzu groaned in his mind. His arms shot down after Hidan, both hanging by threads. They finally , caught Hidan by his torso, and wrapped a few more threads around him. There was a jerk as Hidan's fall was abruptly stopped, which caused him to stop screaming.

"Phew. Thanks again, Kakuzu," Hidan smiled and saluted to his partner as he reeled him in closer.

"Don't mention it," Kakuzu grumbled.

"DEIDARA, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Hidan screamed after the remaining two birds.

On one of those birds, Deidara was laughing his head off. Sasori also laughed and high fived his partner for his little prank. Madara gave a slight chuckle from his bird.

Finally, when the laughter died down a little, Deidara spoke up. "So, we'll just fly a few more miles out east, then we'll drop down, 'kay Sasori?"

"Sure." Sasori muttered. "At least we're over land again now." He was still tired of flying and having to wait this long to land.

Hidan and Kakuzu continued to float down toward the forest below.

"Remind me to kick Deidara's ass next time we see him," Hidan muttered.

"Sure," Kakuzu hissed.

After a minute, they floated down and gently touched the grassy forest floor. The trees reached a normal height of trees, not too tall or short. The forest in turn was shaded pretty nicely.

"Solid fucking land!" Hidan got to his feet and felt the soft grass with his hands, grateful to be back on the ground again.

Kakuzu's threads went to work, sewing up the tears he had made in his cloak.

"You know, Hidan," He said, "that's the second time today I've had to save you from falling."

"Yeah, so what?"

"You should be more careful. Someday, I may not be around to catch you."

"Hmph." Hidan smirked, "Or, you'll be there, and you'll just _decide_ not to catch me."

"Yes, or that," Kakuzu chuckled slightly."

Hidan finally stood up. "So, we're here at the western side of the Earth Kingdom. What should we do first?"

"It's kind of late. Let's go find a place to set up camp. We'll start our search tomorrow."

"Sure. Sounds fair." Just then, Hidan thought about those words. "Wait? What do you mean 'set up camp'?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. We'll make a campfire in a clearing where the flames cannot reach the trees, cook some meat for dinner, and sleep there until morning, then head out on our search."

"So we're not going to find a real hotel or anything?"

"Well, I'm not sure if they will take ryo here."

"That's bullshit! You just want to save a few bucks!"

"Well, that's true too."

Kakuzu and Hidan had built many campfires in their travels, not only because Kakuzu did not want to buy an inn or hotel room, but because they had to stay out of most villages as well.

They walked on for about five minutes through the lonely forest before finding a clearing about as wide as a citadel.

"The trees are far enough away," Kakuzu said, "We can make a fire here."

"Alright then." Hidan walked out into the clearing, Kakuzu in tow.

"You go find us something to eat," Kakuzu ordered. "I'll make a fire."

"Now where do you get off telling me to do the hard stuff?" Hidan snapped.

Kakuzu huffed and rolled his eyes at his stubborn partner. "Well, I'm the smarter and more experienced between the two of us, after all, and also I figured you love hunting and killing. But if you'd really rather, _I'll _go find us some food and _you _can make the fire."

Hidan thought for a second about all the things Kakuzu just said. "Eh, you know what, let's do it your way."

"That's what I thought."

"Fuck you man." And with that, Hidan went one way into the woods, looking for meat.

"Don't get lost," Kakuzu called after him as he went in the opposite direction to look for good firewood.

* * *

><p>By now, the sun was sinking behind one of the distant mountains in the west behind the birds, as its blinding glow disappeared. The sky was turning red behind it, with the sky behind the redness turning a dark purple just over the eastern horizon.<p>

The land below the birds hade become plain, grassy, and rocky. The trio could see a small town up ahead in the distance.

"Hey, Deidara," Sasori spoke up calmly, pointing down to the village, "Let's stop down at that village for the night, and get on with our search tomorrow."

"Hm. Sounds like a plan to me," His partner shrugged. And then he turned to Madara and called out to him, "Madara, Sir, Sasori and I are getting off here."

"Alright then," He replied without looking over.

With that, Deidara commanded his the birds, telling them to go down just by thinking about it. Both birds dived down at an angle towards earth. A lonely dirt road heading for the village lay before them.

Both birds gracefully and gently touched down next to the road. Deidara and Sasori hopped off of theirs, Sasori in a more wobbly fashion. He was clearly happy to have his feet on the ground again.

Deidara did a quick hand seal with one hand, and the bird poofed up, and became a small figurine-sized bird again. Deidara picked up the little thing and slipped it into his satchel with the other figurines he had already competed. He had two satchels now, one with completed figurines and one for unused clay. He also kept with him a scroll for more clay if the need for it should arise. Under his own cloak, Sasori kept a few scrolls containing his puppets.

Madara remained on his bird for a minute.

Deidara turned to him. "So, Lord Madara, have you decided what you're going to do?"

"I think I'll fly on over to the Eastern Air Temple," He replied, "I'll see if I can learn a few things about the Air Nomads that Avatar Aang has descended from."

"If you wanted to learn about the Air Nomads, Madara," Sasori muttered, "you could have just taken the tour back at the Western Temple."

"Yes, but back then I could not decide if that's what I wanted to do. Now that I've decided, and we're closer to the East, so I might as well go there.

"Okay," Deidara closed his eyes and did a quick ram hand seal. "I've relinquished control of your bird, sir. You can control it with your sharingan now. Hm."

"Thank you, Deidara. I'll see you boys in two days then." And with that, Madara's bird started flapping its wings again until it lifted off into the sky, and started flying out east again. Deidara and Sasori watched for a minute as it flew off into the distance, until it became a black dot in the red sky, and then decided to walk down the road toward the village.

"I'm going to feel a little odd about this, Deidara," Sasori admitted, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Why, sir?" Deidara asked. He still often called Sasori 'sir' because Sasori was the 'senior' of the two, and Deidara wanted to show his respect.

"Well, normally, when we go traveling, I hide inside one of my larger puppets for a little extra protection from enemies on the lookout for us. But we're not wanted men around here. I can walk around in my normal body. Well, as normal as it gets, and show my face around people."

Well, it's nice to get some fresh air, isn't it? And stretch your own legs a little, right?"

"Yes, of course."

"It's also kind of weird because, like you said, we're not wanted men, so we can go into a town without fear of drawing unwanted attention to ourselves."

"Yes, as long as you don't do anything rash." Sasori chuckled.

"Yeah, hmph. You know, I actually kind of like hanging out and walking around with you in your normal body. Hmph. I feel like I'm hanging out with someone closer to my age group, and you're not as scary this way."

Sasori stopped suddenly. When he realized it, Deidara turned to face his partner. Sasori stared back at him with cold, unfeeling eyes. His mouth set to a firm line.

"I'm not scary?" Sasori muttered, almost in a threatening tone. "I can show you scary with this body_ just_ as much as my other ones."

A slight shiver was sent down Deidara's spine. "Ah, yes sir. Of course you're still scary."

"I thought so." Sasori blinked, and his smile seemed to return a little. He looked ahead and started walking again. Deidara followed closely behind.

With the town just up ahead, they soon came to a sign that read in Chinese lettering, "Welcome to Gaoling".

"So, the name of this town is Gaoling?" Deidara stated.

"Seems like it," Sasori shrugged.

The town seemed pretty peaceful. In the streets were people going about their business, walking through, some with packs and items and products to sell. Some stopping by at shops or markets to check out what's on sale. A few people carried lanterns, preparing for the night, not that it was needed that much, because most buildings were well lit from the inside.

The artists felt odd, almost uncomfortable, being out in public, out in the open, where anyone could see and attack them. Sasori especially felt this way because he was not hidden inside a puppet, but was showing his true face to the public. They were still not use to the idea of having a clean slate, not being known as the criminal Akatsuki to these people. Still, they were able to hide this discomfort, and acted normal.

Finally, at the edge of what seemed like the town plaza, the artists came to a wide-stretched three-story building. On the roof hanging over the porch was a sign that read "Gaoling Inn".

"Here we are." Sasori headed inside, Deidara following.

The place did not seem too crumby or too expensive. The artists would have a nice stay there that night. The man at the front desk rented them a room on the second floor. It was their luck that they took ryo here. They had plenty of money, about 500 ryo combined. It only cost 30 ryo to spend the night. They got a nice room with two separate beds. Sasori wanted them to go right to bed, to get some rest and be ready for whatever tomorrow would bring them.

* * *

><p>By the time night had fallen, with a dozen stars lighting the dark night sky, Kakuzu had a fire blazing in the clearing, lighting up the whole area. There were also some logs propped up on the sides of the fire to hold up and cook Hidan's kill when he returned. And now, he had time to catch up on his reading. He was sitting a yard away from the fire, legs crisscrossed. He had pulled out a copy of <em>Icha Icha Tactics<em>, and was straining to read the print in the light from the fire.

Finally, he heard rustling in the trees up ahead, along with some grunting and silent cursing. Hidan was back. Kakuzu closed his book and stood up so he could see over the fire.

Hidan was carrying over a large bundle of brown fur that was slightly soaked in blood. Must have been a cougar. He looked like he was having trouble with it. It must have been heavy.

"You want some help with that?" Kakuzu called over, somewhat annoyed.

"No shit!" Hidan snapped, "Of course, you have any idea how heavy this thing is?"

Kakuzu walked around the fire, over to the edge of the clearing, and grabbed the animal around the upper body, while Hidan still held the back. Kakuzu could feel the fur's dampness from the blood on his shoulder and hands. Together, they wordlessly carried the kill over to the fire. Kakuzu placed the head on one log while Hidan placed the lower body on the other. Blood started dripping off the fur, and the legs dangled. The fur also caught fire and started burning, cooking the meat hidden under it in the process likely.

The duo walked around the fire and sat down next to each other to wait for the meat to cook. Kakuzu still had not gotten a good look at it.

"So, what is it?"

"It's the freakiest thing I've ever seen!" Hidan hissed. "It's like a moose, donkey thing with fangs and a lion's tail! I mean what the fuck is up with that? It's like a lion and a moose fucked!"

Kakuzu was blown away by that description. No such creature existed back in the Shinobi Nations. "Wow, that's pretty messed up, I must admit."

"Yeah, it was a pretty tough fight, too! It was like bull fighting! I actually had to sacrifice it instead of just trying to butcher it!"

"Why didn't you just use that new weapon we got you?"

"You and I both know that that wasn't the situation to use that!"

"Good. You actually used your head."

"Shut the fuck up! I did the hard part, hunting a big tough animal, why you sat here on your ass and made a cozy fire!"

"I gave you the option to switch jobs, and you declined."

"Ugh!" Hidan rested his straining forehead in his hand. Even he got tired of arguing at one point. He decided to change the subject.

"You know what else I found in the woods there? I saw a giant porcupine with the head of a boar asleep in a cave."

"That sounds tasty. Why didn't you go for that?"

"Dude, this thing was HUGE! It was like the size of a fucking house!"

"Hmph. What else was there?"

"Let's see, a bear with armor like an armadillo, another bear with a platypus bill, this one gazelle that looked like a bull, it was so buff, and some weird ducks that I think had turkey gizzards. Nothing out of the ordinary besides those. What kind of weird, messed up forest is this?"

"This place certainly does have an interesting array of wildlife, doesn't it?"

"Interesting? How about downright weird, or bizzar?"

"Yes, I guess that fits it more." Just then, Kakuzu remembered something. "Come to think of it, I remember back at the Western Air Temple, there was a mosaic of what looked like a flying white buffalo. I believe they were called sky bison."

"Oh, yeah. But they looked pretty normal."

"The picture depicted them to be enormous! And they had large flat tails and six legs."

Surprised by that description, Hidan turned away from his partner and looked awkwardly at the fire. "Well, I stand corrected. Hey, wait, didn't the tour guide lady, Chai, didn't she say that the sky bison were nearly extinct? And Avatar Aang owns the last one?"

"Yes. I believe that was discussed on the tour. I suppose that's one thing we should keep in mind on our hunt. I'm assuming Sky Bison can fly from what we learned. We should remember to watch the skies for such a thing."

"Yeah. Good point." Hidan remembered something just then, and smirked. "I bet you're thinking about what a prize that bison would be, and how much it would be worth!"

"Well, it's likely worth more alive than dead, most endangered species are."

"I rest my case," Hidan shrugged.

"Still, I'm prepared to kill the creature if necessary. There probably won't be time for handing in the pelt or capture for a reward anyway."

"That's good to hear." Hidan looked down at Kakuzu's hands, and saw that he was holding a book with a blue title. He could make out the title, _Icha Icha Tactics_.

"Oh, no!" He moaned, "Don't tell me you _like_ that retarded series!"

"It's actually not that bad. Jiraiya was a pretty good writer. It wouldn't kill you to pick up a book either, Hidan."

"Hey, I read!"

"Hmph."

Deciding to cut down on the chat, they sat in silence for about five minutes.

"Ya think the meat's done?" Hidan asked finally.

Kakuzu stood up and went over to check it. The fur had been burned off, and the skin looked pretty burned.

"I think so." He carefully lifted the moose off the logs, and set it down on the ground. Hidan pulled a Kunai from inside his cloak, and started carving the meat. When he was done, Kakuzu took a leg, and Hidan had the ribs.

The meat was tough, chewy, and somewhat bitter, but the immortal duo enjoyed it as much as they could. Kakuzu pulled down his mask, revealing his stitched up mouth.

"So, how shall we start our search tomorrow? Anything you would like to come up with?" He asked after one bite.

Hidan swallowed his bite before answering. "Let's see if we can find a Jashinist Temple around here. I'm sure my friends in the Jashinist community can help us."

"Jashinism is practiced even here?"

"Yep. All over the world."

Kakuzu thought for a second. He could not stand Jashinism. The way Hidan practiced was enough for him. Still, it sounded slightly more original and interesting that looking for a library.

"Alright. Sounds like a plan to me."

"Super." Hidan took another bite of his ribs.

They enjoyed the rest of their meal without much talking. When they were done, most of the meat had been picked off the bones. The fire was starting do die down a little, but Kakuzu ran over and grabbed some more twigs quickly to feed the fire and keep it going a little longer.

Finally, when they were done, the got ready for sleep on the hard ground. They were use to sleeping on the ground as said before, so they did not mind. Hidan said his prayers before laying down, and quickly falling asleep. Kakuzu read a little more of his book until sleep overcame him.

**Author's Comments:**** And there you have it, chapter six. I know, it was a little slow, but this is only an information gathering mission before the real action begins. It will get far more interesting afterwards, and there will be exciting events in each team's search. Personally, I think Pain/Nagato and Zetsu's search will be very interesting with what they end up doing.**

**You know how Deidara usually ends his sentences with 'un' and 'hm' and grunts and things like that? Well, I never really noticed that as I was watching the anime, and I never really understood what other writers were doing as they wrote his dialogue like that. I didn't really know that was part of Deidara's character until I re-read his biography on the Naruto Wiki. I'll try to do a better job at making his dialogue like that in the future. **

**Also, I have looked up now that Aang and Katara actually had three children instead of just one. But, it's too late to add in the other two kids, so let's pretend they only have one. It doesn't have to be perfect, right? It is fanfiction after all.**

**Well, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. I hope you'll review, subscribe, or favor. I would especially like reviews.**


	7. The Eastern Air Temple

It was still late at night, with dozens of stars still gleaming in the sky by the time Aang and Appa had reached the Fire Nation Capital. The glare of city lights lit up the ground below, hurting both of their eyes slightly. Before long, they finally came to the Royal Palace, and touched down on the balcony on the higher floors that they usually landed on. Up there, an armored guard was standing watch, and half asleep. As Appa touched down, the guard jumped do his feet, completely startled.

"A-Avatar Aang!" The guard stammered. "How unexpected!" He bowed before the avatar, giving the traditional Fire Nation bow standing up.

"I need to speak with Zuko and Iroh," Aang called down to the guard in a commanding voice.

"I'm sorry, sir," The guard answered, "The Fire Lord and his family are all asleep now. Would you mind waiting until morning?"

Aang took a breath, but a cheerful, relieved one, not an impatient one. "Of course not," He answered.

"Okay then. Um, would you like a bed chamber in the mean time?"

Aang looked down at his buddy Appa, who just let out a slight grunt.

"Nah, that's okay. I'll sit out here with Appa," Aang smiled at the guard.

"Very well," The guard replied. "I hope you don't mind me standing here over you on my shift. Good night."

"Thank you. Good night." Aang hopped up around on the back of Appa and got ready to sleep. Tired of flying himself, Appa hunkered down and fell asleep quickly.

* * *

><p>It was soon morning on the other side of the world. Still riding Deidara's bird, Madara was flying high over the clouds, past stony mountains, all shaded in the morning sun. A cool morning breeze and damp clouds blew into his face, wetting his mask and cloak slightly. He did not mind though.<p>

Finally, up ahead, he could see three closely placed mountains, each decorated with some tall, though crumbling buildings and bridges. _This must be the Eastern Air Temple,_ thought Madara.

As he flew in closer, below he could see a large stone platform at the foot of the temple. A smooth stone trail led up a path from the mountain below, before branching off into two directions. One way went up onto a tile landing. The other branch led around the landing, likely into the rest of the temple.

_I think I'll land here. Descend! _As soon as he gave the mental picture, the bird obeyed his command and tipped its nose downward toward the landing. It gently touched down at the foot of the landing.

His arms still holding on to the bird's neck, Madara began to slide his left leg over to the right side of the bird. As he did so, he suddenly lost his grip on the neck, and clumsily slipped off, and landed flat on his stomach with an _OOOFF! _He had been flying longer than the other Akatsuki have been, so naturally, he had lost his sense of balance more so than they have.

He pushed himself up from the smooth, round, but hard stones under his gloved hands, got to his feet, and shook off some dust from his cloak. _Stay,_ he mentally barked at the bird. The bird stood where it was, completely motionless._ Alright then..._

Thinking he would get a better view of the place from up there, Madara slowly walked up the small spiraling trail of tiles that led up the landing, his steps making a light _Chk!_ _Chk!_ like chalk on a blackboard, but louder and deeper. He noted how quiet the place was. Aside from his own footsteps, he could hear a few birds in the trees chirping, and the light morning breeze whistling ever so gently.

When he reached the top of the tiled landing, where dust was settling. He spotted a few red and yellow birds a a few squirrels, which scattered and disappeared as he stepped up. He looked up ahead of him, and got a good view of the temple as a whole. All over the mountains, amongst the tons of green bushes and shrubs, small houses were built here and there, of white, grey and blue stones. There were also a few stone bridges between the three mountains.

_Such interesting architecture,_ Madara thought._ Quaint and small, like a mountain-top village, but still interesting none the less. This easily rivals the work on Kumogakure._ What he also found interesting was that did not seem to have a lot of destruction or rubble laying around, and many structures seemed to still be intact. He remembered what Itachi had learned, that the Fire Nation army had massacred all of the Air Nomads, save for Avatar Aang.

_Well, perhaps these people survived somehow, or perhaps they were not killed up here. Or maybe some settlers came and rebuilt the place. I'm about to find out._

He spotted another landing near the bottom of the middle mountain, on which was perched a small blue-roofed building. I decided to teleport down to there. Without moving his body, he simply charged up some chakra in his body, thought about the building up ahead, and in an flash, he found himself right at the door of the building he was looking at, facing the wall. It was time to get some exploring done. He knew the bird would be safe where it was.

* * *

><p>Over the next few hours, Madara wandered about the temple aimlessly, exploring whatever useful rooms or sites he could find. He became accustomed to the silence. Again the only sounds in the temple were his own footsteps, birds chirping, and the wind whistling. The place was just as deserted as the Western Air Temple, only without even tours. Still, Madara was prepared to socialize and speak with anyone should he run into anybody here, resident or tour. If he could play a half-witted teenage goofball like Tobi, surly could pull off a kindly old man traveling around. Madara has happy to have some peace and quiet to himself every now and then, so he was enjoying this little research trip.<p>

He spent the whole morning exploring the temple, walking across catwalks, balconies and hallways being overrun by weeds and vines. He found a building with many scrolls containing drawings and articles. This room was presumingly a library. He read through a few of the scrolls. He managed to see a few pictures of what the Air Nomads were like, and how they lived, what their lifestyle and culture were like, and how they were generally simple, peace-loving people. So peaceful in fact, that they did not even have an official military.

_How naive. No wonder the Fire Nation obliterated them,_ Madara thought pitilessly. _What was the point of learning Airbending if they would not use it to defend themselves properly?_

They had learned Airbending from the sky bison, just as the the ones that had been discussed and pictured at the Western Air Temple, and similar to the one Avatar Aang kept as his eternal companion. Eventually, the nomads and the bison lived together in harmony, and the nomads soon learned to tame the bison, form bonds with them, and so the bison would provide transportation and other services to the nomads.

Interestingly, this scroll Madara was reading from said that the sky bison _chose_ to help the nomads, and that the nomads did not _use_ them for anything.

Apparently, some avatars had what was called an 'animal guide', which was an animal who shares a strong, spiritual bond with the avatar. The guide was meant to assist the avatar in whatever way it could. Many sky bison served as animal guides to avatars born into the Air Nomads. It also seemed that the avatar and its guide shared a relation similar to one that Madara had read in a book before: If the guide dies, the avatar will live on, but if the avatar dies, so does his animal guide.

After reading all of that for about an hour, Madara decided to get up and continue looking around. He put each scroll back where he had found them before heading back out the door.

He also at one point came across a long hallway-like room with many pillars. There were piles of old, moldy straw scattered all across the floor. It must have been the holding pen for some sort of animal, perhaps the sky bison.

He visited a large room with a white tile floor counters, cupboards, and brick ovens. The kitchen. Another outdoor court contained many wood pillars, two of which at both sides had rectangular goals. This must have been where youngsters would play Airball.

* * *

><p>By high noon, when the sun was highest, Madara was trudging on up a huge flight of stone steps to what looked like a roof standing on a few pillars, with half of roof having been blown off by something.<p>

By this point, he felt like he fully understood Air Nomad culture, and had learned a few useful things about the avatar. He felt as though there was not much left that this temple had to offer him. Perhaps he would just take a look up here, then head back to the bird and go find somewhere else to explore tomorrow.

When he reached the top however, he came across something he was not expecting. In front of him, in the middle of the floor, was an old man, about what may have been his eighties. He seemed to be meditating, for he was sitting, his legs crossed with his hands on his knees, and his eyes closed. He wore a yellow toga, had dark skin that seemed to have been due to years of exposure to the sun, and a long white beard that went down to his chest.

Madara did not want to be rude and disturb the man, but after a second of standing before him awkwardly, the man's eyes shot open, and looked over upon the newcomer.

"Hello. I am Guru Pathik," the man said with a warm, friendly smile.

"Hello there," Madara replied. "My name is Madara." He was almost hesitant about giving Pathik his name. Back in the Shinobi Nations, nearly everyone knew his name. He was not use to simply giving it away to a stranger he just met. But he did not want to act suspicious around this man. He seemed very wise. "I'm sorry if I disturbed you."

"Oh, there is no need to be sorry," The guru answered. "I was somewhat aware of your presence already." A slight touch of fear jabbed at Madara before Pathik continued. "You see, as a guru, I am well connected with nature. I am acquainted with many plants and birds you see here, and a few of them have told me of a new visitor of the mountain."

"And, what did they say about me?" Feeling comfortable around this man, Madara took a step closer. When they were on the same platform and about a yard away from each other, he sat down, legs crisscrossed.

"Well, they said you were wearing a very unusual garment, and that you seemed very mysterious." Pathik gestured both Madara's cloak and mask. They had said that you seemed friendly mostly, and that you were wandering around the temple, seemingly aimlessly. They had seen you stop at the archive room at one point, so you must be searching for something. And what a long way you have come looking for it. If you don't mind me asking, what_ are_ you looking for, and why have you come all the way up here for it?"

Madara was prepared to answer. "I wish to learn more about the Air Nomads and Avatar Aang. I thought this might be an excellent source for information on them."

"Well, how did you get up here? It can take months to reach the top of these mountains if you start at the bottom."

"I ran into Avatar Aang, and we as nice enough to give me a lift."

"Hm, strange. I did not feel Aang's presence since his last visit."

"It was a very fast visit. He just dropped me off here and left."

"Oh. Well, would it not have been easier to ask him your questions when you met him?"

"Well, I felt a little awkward asking him about his people. We had just met then anyway, and we did not really know each other."

"Ah, yes." Pathik smiled again and closed his eyes, as if deep in thought. "It can be difficult to open up to strangers at times. People like to be secretive or private, and only share personal information with people they know. But of course, if we do not attempt to move past these feelings of privacy and personal comfort during conversations, how can we hope to make new friends?"

"Yes, I see exactly what you mean." Madara could understand a second meaning to what Pathik was saying. He was suggesting that Madara take off his mask, reveal his true face, show that he has nothing to hide. You wish for me to take off my mask, correct?"

"If you do not mind. Most would simply prefer to look upon the true face of ones we are speaking to. It makes us more comfortable in each other's presence."

"Alright then." Madara reached up to his mask with his right hand. He took hold of the lower part of the mask, and gently removed it from his face, and slipped the mask under his cloak.

While the rest of his head was still under his black hood, his face was revealed. His skin was slightly tanned, and rather wrinkly from old age. It was clean though, having no warts, zits, acne, or moles. His face was very similar to Sasuke's only longer and of an older age. His eyes shone red with the sharingan. It was rather uncomfortable for Madara. He rarely took his mask off for more than five seconds, never mind in front of a stranger. Still, he deemed Pathik trustworthy.

"Forgive me for being so private about my face," Madara spoke up as Pathik got a good look at him. "My eyes have an unusual color and its rather embarrassing."

"I understand completely," Pathik nodded. "We often times feel embarrassed by different features of ourselves, and try to hide those shames. But did you know that by hiding what you are ashamed of, you are actually blocking off a spiritual chakra?"

"Excuse me? I'm not familiar with spiritual chakras." Madara actually was familiar with chakra, of course, but he was not sure that Pathik was talking about the same thing.

"Few people today are. Imagine this: There is a little creak, made of little pools in between small cracks where the water flows. It is similar to how energy flows through your bodies. And the chakras are like those little pools. Do you follow so far?"

"Yes." Madara was listening intently and understanding everything Pathik was saying.

"Now, things tend to fall into the creak, such as leaves or algea or foam, blocking off the water."

"Similar to how sometimes out emotional distress blocks the chakras, I'm guessing?"

"Yes! Very good! You're catching on quicker than I expected."

"And if we remove the gunk blocking the creak, the water will flow, just like overcoming distress will let our energy flow through the chakras?"

"Exactly! You are very wise in such subjects too, aren't you?"

"Why thank you. I _have_ had some training on such matters. But you seem to know far more on this subject than I do."

"Thank _you_. You know, even if you are not a bender, anyone can open up their chakras, and find peace with themselves. That is what I have done, and doing so has given me many gifts. And this little drink here has a tang to it that helps us keep our chakras clear." Pathik gestured a half-a coconut shell at his left side. Madara surprisingly barely noticed it before.

"Here, have a sip." Pathik handed the shell over to Madara, which he took politely. He took a second to look down at the yellow-green soup in the shell.

"What is it, if I might ask?"

"It is Onion-Banana Juice. A specialty of these mountains, and personally, my favorite treat." Pathik spoke as though it were the most normal drink in the world.

Normally, one might look at Pathik like he was crazy, but Madara knew better than that. He was actually kind of interested to see what it tasted like. He lifted the bowl to his lips, and took a sip.

A sour, thick, syrupy goop flooded over his taste buds. It was such an odd combo. Madara managed to swallow the liquid.

"Well, it certainly is an _unusual_ beverage," he coughed. He handed the shell back to Pathik.

"It is an acquired taste, some might say," Pathik laughed as he took a big gulp. "I must say, you handled the drink far better than _Aang_ did when _he_ first came to me. He took a sip before I even told him what it was, and then spit it out!"

Madara's ears shot up like rockets at the mention of Aang's name. "You knew Avatar Aang?"

"Yes. He found me, and I taught him how to gain control of the Avatar State. I later taught him how to keep in touch with his spiritual side, and how to enter the spirit world, and many other Avatar-related techniques that few could teach now today."

"Then you must know a lot about him?"

"Indeed I do. I was also a spiritual brother of the Air Nomads, and a personal friend of Monk Gyatso, Aang's Airbending mentor. I believe I can help you with a lot of your research that we were discussing before, if you'd like."

"Sure. I would appreciate that. Some companionship would be nice too." Madara was still a little confused about how Pathik could have known the Airbenders from all those years ago. That would be something they would discuss later.

"Alrighty then." Pathik unfolded his legs and stood up. He stretched out his arms and abs, bending back a little. "Come. Walk with me."

Madara rose to his own feet, and followed his new companion down the stairs.

**Author's Comments: Some of you might think that this chapter was a bit on the boring side. Sorry about that. **

**The next chapter will hopefully be more exciting, perhaps funnier. In the next chapter, we will either check back on Deidara and Sasori, or Hidan and Kakuzu. I will get to both parties eventually, but I'll hear what my readers what me to do first. After we catch up with both parties, we will see how Nagato and Zetsu are doing.**

**Wanna know something funny? As I was writing the part about Onion-Banana juice, I was tempted to go make some and taste it myself so I could know what it really tastes like, but then my mom would have thought I was crazy, and would keep bugging me about it, so I just guessed.**

**Please subscribe and review, especially review! Thanks Everyone!**


	8. Gaoling

When morning came and the sun's rays first started to stretch up over the Fire Nation, Aang was still asleep on Appa's back, snoring and drooling. Appa was no better.

A new guard had come to take the shift after the one who had greeted them the previous night.

"Avatar Aang, sir," The guard called out at one point. "Time to wake up! Come on."

The guard tried to sound soft and not bother Aang too much. Aang blinked and stirred for a second before he finally yawned, stretched, and hopped down from Appa.

"Morning!" He smiled at the guard.

"Good morning, sir." The guard waved back. "Fire Lord Zuko and his family are awake now and about to have breakfast. We told them you are here and they're waiting to see you for breakfast."

"What?" Aang blinked, still waking up. He took a second to remember why he was at Zuko's when it finally came back to him. "Oh! Right! Zuko. Okay, thanks. I'll be right down."

* * *

><p>In the same dining hall that the monthly meetings were held at, but with a smaller, circular table, there were plenty of eggs, meats, pancakes and fresh fruit set across the table for everyone for breakfast. Sitting around Aang was Iroh, Mai, Zuko, and Ursa. Aang had a few fruits and pancakes on his plate, which he was enjoying pretty well.<p>

"It's nice to see you again after such a short time, Aang," Ursa smiled at him.

"It's nice to see all of you too," Aang answered.

"I'm really glad you came back so soon because there's actually something I wanted to talk to you about myself." Said Zuko, putting down his chopsticks.

"What?"

"Well, would you mind if we talk about my issue first before yours?"

"Umm... sure. I guess mine can wait." Aang did not feel a total sense of urgency over the Black and Red cloak men at the moment. He decided Zuko could go first.

"Alright. Thanks." Zuko turned behind him and nodded to a few Fire Sages who were standing in the next room. They each carried with them a large piece of paper as they walked down into the room. Zuko stood up himself and walked to the edge of the table so everyone could see him before he continued.

"Now, many years ago, my great-grandfather, Sozin had a vision. He imagined a world where all four of the nations would come together united. He had a good idea, but the wrong approach."

One sage came up beside Zuko and held up his poster. On the poster was a scale drawing in graphite of a large city. Aang got a good look at it before Zuko continued.

"So, the last couple of weeks, the sages and my advisors have been talking, and we've come up with a new idea for making that dream a reality. We've envisioned a massive city somewhere on the west coast of the Earth Kingdom. A city as big as Ba Sing Se, the Northern Water Tribe, and the Fire Nation Capital, perhaps even bigger, and with twice as many people."

A few more sages presented drawings and schematics of some of the buildings and features the city would have.

"Imagine it! Skyscrapers, parks, dozens of shops and diners! And all four nations working together side-by-side to build it! Earth, Water, Fire, and... well you get it."

"And with the Avatar's help, it will be more all the more do-able," Iroh added with a smile.

"I'd say all four nations have been rebuilt enough to pitch in and start building it." Ursa piped up.

"So, what do you say, Aang?" Zuko asked. "Does this sound like a good idea?"

Aang smiled. It all sounded like a wonderful idea. It would bring the nations together and even closer, and with his guidance, the environment could be balanced and the spirits appeased.

"That sounds like a great idea, Zuko," he cheered. "I think we should do it."

"Splendid!" One of the sages squeaked. "Now, if you'll just sign this agreement form then, please." He passed Aang a contract and a black ink paintbrush. Aang picked up the paintbrush and skimmed over the paper. It was just a few words confirming he agreed to Zuko's plan, and would help in any way he could. He scribbled his name and the sage took it back.

"Great!" Zuko smiled. "I'll let my men know after breakfast, and send letters to the Earth King and Water Tribe Chiefs. We'll start construction in about... say a month." The sages bowed before everyone before leaving the room out the way they came.

Zuko took his seat again between Mai and Ursa and took another bite of his egg.

"Now, what did _you_ want to talk about Aang?" Ursa turned to the young avatar and asked sweetly.

"Huh?" Aang almost forgot what he had come over for in the first place. "Oh right." He cleared his through quick before continuing. "I've received a warning from the spirits. They say the peace and stability of the world is about to be threatened again."

Everyone stopped eating for a second, surprised and interested.

"By who?" Zuko asked.

"Men in black and red cloaks. The spirits say that their goal is to kill the Avatar and use its power for their own evil purposes. Do you guys know of such people?"

Everyone paused to try and search their memory of the vague description.

"Hm... black and red cloaks," Iroh repeated while stroking his beard. "...Well, I cannot think of such a group. In the Fire Nation, the pattern is _red and black_ cloaks."

"I'm sure they're nothing a badass avatar like you can't handle," Mai smiled. "What did the spirits say they were going to do?"

"The spirits said that they would reduce cities to rubble," Aang answered with a horrified look as he remembered his vision. "They will burn down forests, kill families! They will stop at nothing to gain the Avatar's power!"

"And the spirits said you can't stop them?" Zuko asked. "I mean you're the Avatar. Nobody on this planet is more powerful than you!... Right?"

"Roku wouldn't have warned me if the threat wasn't serious."

"Oh, right. Good point." After another brief silence to ponder it over, Zuko spoke up again. "I'll tell you what: I can get the Fire Nation Police Force to try and research men in black and red cloaks. You know? See if there are any recent criminal organizations around having to do with them."

"Alright. Sounds like a good idea," Aang smiled. Zuko was always good at coming up with good solutions like this. "In the meantime, maybe you should tell your men to keep an eye out for men in such cloaks, and maybe be more careful of crime, or suspicious activity in general in the Fire Nation."

"Well, actually," Mai interjected, "now that you mentioned it, just yesterday, there was a report on an unusual shark attack on Ember Island. Four people were killed, and a few more wounded."

Aang's eyes widened at that last sentence. "A fatal shark attack on Ember Island? That_ is_ unusual!"

"I've already sent some inspectors over there to check out the scene," Zuko added. "You can go down there and check it out with them if you want."

"Okay. Sure. I think I'll do that," Aang replied. He shoveled the last bits of fruit from his plate to his mouth before standing up. "I'll head down there now. Thanks for breakfast." He gave a quick Fire-Nation bow before grabbing up a little melon from the bowl. "For Appa," he smirked.

"Good luck, Aang," Iroh said as Aang turned to leave. "Do not let your vision bring you down. You are a great man. You have accomplished many great things. I have no doubt that you will be able to stop this new threat, whatever it may be."

"Thanks, Iroh," Aang smiled. "Thanks all of you. Take care."

And with that, Aang left the room to get back to the balcony. The Fire Lord and his family smiled and waved after him as he left through the doors.

* * *

><p>The sun crept in through the window of Sasori and Deidara's room. Since Deidara's bed was closer to the wingow, the warm, comforting rays of the sun brushed over him first, stirring him awake.<p>

Feeling the sun's warm rays on his face, Deidara opened his eyes, and sat up. He looked over at Sasori who was still sound asleep. He was completely silent and motionless. No snoring, no breathing, it was almost as if he was dead. Deidara knew that his energy and soul had receeded to his heart for the night, out of his body. Even though he was a puppet, his only sign of life being his mechanical heart, Sasori still needed food and sleep like a normal human.

Deidara knew it was best to let Sasori have his sleep. He had woken him up early before, and those times did not end well. In fact, Deidara got an idea. He slipped out of his bed, and walked carefully around the room, careful not to make a sound. He and Sasori had taken their cloaks off for the night, and they were now hanging on a coatrack by the door. He had slept in his greyish-blue light battle attire he normally wore under his cloak.

As he tip-toped over to his cloak, he reached into the inner pocket, and took out his black leather wallet. _235 ryo left_. He had spent 15 last night when he and Sasori split the rent. This would be more than enough. He slipped his cloak on, and quietly headed out the door, closing it behind him.

* * *

><p>Sasori sensed light upon the face of his puppet. He channeled his chakra into the body, "waking up". He sat up and looked over to his right at Deidara's bed. He was surprised to find it empty, with the sheets all messed up. Where could that punk had gone off to already?<p>

His question was answered soon enough. He heard a key slip in and turn in the door key hole, and then the doorknob twist. Deidara crept in, carrying a plate of fist-sized pancakes and two cups of tea.

"Good morning, chief," the blonde smiled at his partner, "breakfast is served."

A slight smile came to Sasori's face. It was always a nice treat when Deidara had breakfast ready for them when he got up. "Morning," he whispered. "Thanks for the food. What's the occasion today?"

"I just wanted us to start off on a good note. I'm sure we have a lot of work to do today. Hmph."

"Now that's the spirit. Let's eat up."

Deidara set the plate down on the bed where Sasori's legs were not. He took out two pairs of chopsticks, handing one to Sasori, and dug in to the pancakes, and Sasori followed. They were delicious. Most were plain and dry, but some had a sweet red bean paste spread on them. They also enjoyed their piping hot green tea, washing the dry pancakes down with it.

"I hope I didn't make you wait too long," Deidara said at one point.

"Oh no, don't worry about that," Sasori replied assuringly, "I woke up just about five seconds before you got back."

After about five minutes of filling up, the artists headed downstairs, checked out at the front desk, and walked back out into the streets, pumped up and ready to start their search.

The streets were far busier that they were last night. The streets were littered with people, dressed in all sorts of different attires, both wealthy and poor, and everything in between. Some were in groups or families walking together, some leading small children, some with animals, a few pulling or pushing carts, some handing out fliers and advertisements. One or two were laying on the street, begging for spare change. While it was not quite as massive as a bustling crowd like one would see at a baseball stadium, it was still a very busy town.

"So, where should we begin? Hm," Deidara grunted.

"Well, let's see," Sasori answered, "Right now, we know that the Avatar is a master of bending, the current one is named Aang of the Air Nomads, and that he recently ended a war started by the Fire Nation. I think we should get a good understanding of what bending is for when we face him."

"Well, we've already seen that Earthbender back at the Eastern Air Temple, right? It looks like bending is a lot simpler than jutsus. Hn. It's simply using manipulating wind, fire, earth and water, but with special taijutsu moves instead of hand seals."

"There could be more to it than that for all we know, and we can't be too careful. Let's just see if we can go learn more about it. It's as good a place to start as any anyway."

"Okay, whatever you say. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't feel like sitting around in a library and take notes like we're doing a university thesis paper."

"Me either actually," Sasori nodded. "Maybe there's a way we can see a demonstration somewhere?"

Just to their luck, they were passing right by a jewelry street vendor, standing beside his wagon full of rings and necklaces on display, and the vendor happened to hear in on their conversation.

"Hey now, boys," the vendor called over, grabbing the artists attention without attracting anyone else. They both turned around to face the man in a green robe and a long black mustache. "You're looking for a good place to watch some bending action?"

The artists both exchanged confused glances, finding it odd that this stranger had heard their conversation. "Yes, we are," Sasori finally answered, stepping closer to the vendor.

"Well, you've come to the right city. Very shortly from now, they're holding another Pro-Bending Match at the old Earth Rumble Arena. If you hurry, I'm sure you can find tickets!"

"What's Pro-Bending?" Deidara asked.

The vendor smiled and answered again. "I'm surprised you haven't heard of it. It's the newest bending-related sport, started up about two years ago. In traditional matches, there are two three-man teams of benders, and they are placed in an arena to battle against one another. The first team to get knocked out of the arena, or to surrender or become too injured to fight any longer looses."

"Hmph. Sounds like a perfect demonstration of what Bending is," Deidara nodded.

"Alright. Let's do that," Sasori nodded. He turned back to the vendor. "So, where is this arena?"

"You can find it on the outskirts of town in the hills. Just ask around and follow the crowd you'll find it."

"Alright. Thank you, sir."

"Ta-Ta." As the vendor waved goodbye, the artists turned and started heading in the direction they thought they saw the hills in.

* * *

><p>It was not as hard as they were expecting to find the crowd. It was in a wide rocky hill with a small door that a crowd of people were heading in. It only cost them each 10 more ryo to get in. When they reached the other side of the short tunnel, they a huge coliseum, with a flat tiled arena in the middle. Half of the arena was painted blue while the other half was green.<p>

There was a moat surrounding the arena, about twenty feet below the face. Up on the ceiling was an enormous cluster of green glowing crystals that lit up the cave. The bleachers were dozens of rows of stone stairs. The artists noted that no one was sitting in the first few rows. Not wanting to stand out or take any chances, they sat down in the lowest row that was filled. They were still relatively close and no one was blocking their view, so they would get a good look at the bending action.

A man in a white robe, white hood, yellow silken headband and green sash sat down next to Sasori. "This is so exciting, don't you think?" The young man whispered cheerfully. He looked about in his middle twenties.

"Yeah, I suppose ," Sasori grunted.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bother you," Said the man. "My name is Zhin. I'm a novelist. I'm writing a book in which bending has a special meaning and symbolism towards the events. I've come here for a little more research. I need to know more about the movements of the body."

"What a coincidence," Sasori smiled and turned to him. "I'm Sasori. Me and my coworker, Deidara here are here to study and learn about bending too." Glanced to his other side to indicate Deidara. Noticing his partner's gaze, Deidara turned his head to enter the conversation.

"Maybe you can help us. What do you know about it? We're actually researching for a little…project of our own."

"You don't know _anything_ about bending _at __all_?" Zhin sounded really surprised, and his eyes widened."

"Uh- There aren't really any benders in the village we come from," Deidara answered, "and we just started our project today… un."

"Well, in general, bending is the ability to manipulate the four elements, earth, water, air and fire to one's will. By conjuring a certain emotion, and by channeling the chi in one's body, and by performing a certain style of martial art, they are able to gain control of these elements and use them for thousands of possible uses. In this case, fighting. Bending is a fine art treasured and used vastly in our world. I'm frankly surprised your village doesn't know anything about it."

Deidara's ears perched up even more at that sentence about bending being an art.

"Alright, that sounds like a good start, that definitely helps," said Sasori. He turned to Deidara and whispered. "Sounds like bending is relatively similar to jutsus."

"Yeah, except _we_ pull off jutsus with hand seals while _they _use taijutsu. You know, it's kind of interesting. It's like combining ninjutsu and taijutsu."

"Yeah. It is." Suddenly, another idea sprang into Sasori's head. He turned back to Zhin. "How would you know if you are a bender, and if so what element you can bend?"

"Well, everyone can only bend one element, except the avatar who can bend all four. There aren't really that many ways to find out if you're a bender or what element. There's a few healers or gurus or monks out there perhaps who can read your energy and determine all of that though.

"Another big factor can be what nation you are from. If your ancestry is from the Earth Kingdom, chances are you're an earth bender. Benders from the water tribe are most likely water benders, and so on."

"I see." Sasori was being reminded of the differences of the five shinobi nations.

Suddenly, a figure leaped down out of the water and made a crash onto the arena deck, scattering dozens of large rocks everywhere.

The man stood up from the rubble, giving everyone a good look at him. He was about in his early forties, had pale skin, and had a brown goatee and ponytail. He also was not wearing a shirt, revealing his bulky arms and abs.

"Welcome to Probending!" The man yelled in a deep voice. "I am your host, Zhuji!"

"There, you see?" Zhin nudged Sasori and as Zhuji started blabbering on about the upcoming match. "The host is an earthbender. Just look at the way he commands the stone in the arena to his advantage."

Sasori watched as Zhuji had his legs squatted in a firm stance. He raised his hands into a defensive stance, causing the crater he had made to rise up and completely reform. He then threw his fists up, causing a pillar of earth to lift him up. Next, he jabbed out with both hands, sending another horizontally toward the platform he was suppose to perch on. He slid across the ramp up to his platform, as though gliding on mud. When he was on the platform, he firmly pushed the previous platforms down back into the arena.

Zhin nudged Sasori again. "See how firm and inflexible his movements are? An earthbender must be strong and immovable, like the earth itself, like a rock. The bender must root himself into the earth, and prove to be strong enough to move it. It involves neutral jin, waiting for the right time to strike, and then doing so with decisiveness and without hesitation. The ideal Earthbender attitude is persistent and enduring."

"I see," Sasori nodded. He pulled out his sketchbook from his cloak, and started taking some notes.

"And now, let's give our contestants a warm welcome!" cried Zhuji.

On the blue side of the arena suddenly, a wave of water was lifted up to meet the rim, and suddenly froze into solid ice. Three people, each wearing blue kick-boxing equipment, slid across the ice and onto the blue tiled floor. Once they were on the arena platform, one of the players, the skinniest one in the middle made a few gentle movements with his arms, and pushed down, reverting the ice bridge back to water, and sinking it down into the water below.

Zhuji started shouting again. "In the blue corner, I give you... The Foggy Swamp Catgators!"

Half of the crowd in the stadium cheered and applauded the team. Clearly they were fans of this team.

On the other side of the arena, a rock bridge appeared, and three more contestants in green armor lept across, and landed gracefully on the green side.

"And now, a big round of applause for you home team... the Gaaaaaaooooooling Baaaaaandiiiiits!"

This time, the crowd roared and clapped louder, which made sense to Sasori since they were the home team.

"Let the combat begin!" A gong was banged, and echoed throughout the stadium.

The crowd fell silent, and the six contestants sprang into action. The two of the bandits each jumped to the sides, while one stayed in the center. They each charged toward the catgators from their respective points.

The most muscular categator jumped into the center, and stomped on the ground, sending a shockwave out. He was clearly an Earthbender.

The two side bandits stomped themselves, creating their own miniature shockwaves that shielded them from the big one coming their way. They were also Earthbenders.

The middle bandit. lept up, doing and acrobatic flip over the shockwave.

Next, the two bandits stomped again, and jabbed out, each creating a wall of earth, and sending it toward the categators. The walls rounded around the three, trapping them in.

The third bandit kept charging toward them. He jumped up into the air finally, and his body suddenly became ablaze. He started spinning around in midair, suspended by the fire. He was creating a fire cyclone of some sort. He charged closer to the categators, ready to incinerate them.

The categators seemed ready though. Two started swinging their arms around in a pattern, their movements mirroring each other. Water was spouting up from the moat, funneling up towards the arena.

The Earthbending categator punched the ground. A small rock popped up right before the fire bandit, tripping him and interrupting his cyclone.

Seeing the opening, the Waterbending categators launched their spouts toward the fire bandit, splashing him and sending him tumbling back.

The Earth categator jabbed both fists upward, raising a platform, higher than the wall and looking out down over his opponents.

The Earth bandits leapt to their teammate's side as he got to his feat. Probably enraged now, his fists went ablaze. This game was about to get serious.

Deidara had been watching closely using his eye scope. By zooming in on the benders, he could get a better look at their movements and actions that Sasori could from his seat with his naked eyes. When he saw some interesting moves or displays, many of which were, he snapped a few pictures with his scope's camera mode.

As the battle heated up, Deidara reached over behind Sasori and tapped Zhin on the shoulder, getting his attention.

"Hey, Zhin, was it? So, I'm guessing that that that one guy on the Bandit's team is a Firebender?"

"That is correct," Zhin smiled. "Fire is the element of power, consisting of overpowering force that derives from the bender's desires and strongest emotions. As you can see here, the martial arts style of Firebending isn't as stiff as Earthbending, and not as loose as Waterbending. It's somewhere in between.

"Of all the elements, fire is the most dangerous, and must be used carefully, and the bender must keep good control over it, or it will rage and go out of control, creating an unintended hazard for everyone."

Sasori was rushing to scribble down all the notes that Zhin was giving them. Deidara was listening intently.

"Now, there is a specialized form of Firebending: Lightning generation. To perform this, the bender must separate their yin and yang energy, or positive and negative, and create an internal imbalance. The two energies then try to force themselves back together like a magnet. When they are about to reconnect in a crash, the bender provides release and direction, creating lightening. It is the purest and deadliest form of Firebending that only a few have masters."

Deidara and Sasori glanced at each other at that last sentence, letting it sink it. Zhin made Lightning bending sound really scary. Back in the Shinobi nations, lightning was one of the five basic release types, rather than a part of fire, wasn't feared that much. They DID remember that there was a steady relationship between fire release techniques and lightning release ones.

"Thank goodness it is strictly prohibited in Probending here," Zhin continued. "There is a way to counter it, though: With the redirection technique. A when struck by lightening, a firebender can take in the lightening into one hand, let the energy travel through his arms, and then out the other. But the bender must be fully prepared for the strike, and must be careful to direct the energy through his body without hitting the heart. This also works on fire and toxic fumes I've read."

"Wow, you really did you research here, didn't ya?" Deidara smirked. "Huh."

"Yep. I sure did."

"So, if lightning bending is an advanced form of Firebending," Sasori interjected. "Are there any advanced forms of Earthbending?"

"Yes, now that you mentioned it. There's Metalbending. To accomplish that, an Earthbender must find the minerals in a metal, and then bend the piece of metal from that point. It is very difficult. It was developed by Toph Bei Fong about five years ago.

"There's also Sandbending. It is easier than metalbending, but sand is in small shifting partcles unlike a solid piece of earth. Sandbending is almost like doing Waterbending or Airbending, but with the Earthbending disciplines."

"Wow, this really is interesting," Sasori remarked.

"Yeah. It is," Zhin replied.

The three sat in silence for a few more minutes and watched the match rage on. One by one, the categators were each thrown into the moat, though they took out one of the earth bandits. At that point, the round was declared over, and there would be a two-minute interval. The entire match would be decided after three rounds, apparently.

"So, what about Waterbending?" Sasori asked. "What can you tell us about that?"

"Well, you've seen the match," Zhin answered, "let's hear _your_ thoughts. What do _you_ make of it from what you've seen?"

"Well, from the looks of it," Deidara replied, "the movements of Waterbending are very graceful; very loose and having a good sync and flow. Kind of-"

"-like a river?" Sasori and Zhin both finished the sentence in unison.

"Exactly! -un. It also looks like it relies heavily on the arms, while the legs can be used a lot in the other two."

"Very good, Deidara," Zhin smiled. "A lot of that is right. Water is the element of change. Waterbenders deal with the flow of energy. People of the Water Tribes have a deep sense of community and love that holds them together through anything." He raised a finger to his chin and scratched it. "In battle, their defense becomes attack, and visa-versa. They can often use an opponent's force against them."

"I see," Sasori murmured.

"Many Waterbenders have also been able to use their abilities to heal the wounded and sick. To do so, they envelope a said person in water, and then redirect the chi in the body to the wounded area. They also utilize the water's life-giving probabilities."

"That sounds useful," Deidara nodded.

"Hey, what is this _chi_ anyway you keep bringing up?" Sasori asked.

"It is the metaphysical energy in one's body that gives one the strength to move. Everyone has it, but benders have special use for it. In a nutshell, it is the fuel that powers bending, so to speak."

Sasori turned to Deidara quick. "Sounds a lot like Chakra," he whispered. "I guess they just call it chi here."

His partner nodded. Sasori turned from him and back to Zhin just as Zhuji was about to announce the start of round two.

"Any more advanced forms of Waterbending?" Sasori asked Zhin.

"Well, there's also bloodbending," Zhin answered. A sad expression appeared on his face. "It's probably the one thing about bending that's scarier than lightning bending. It involves controlling the water in someone else's body to manipulate and move the body to the user's command. A Waterbender with knowledge of this technique can render an opponent powerless, motionless, and can possibly rip them apart!"

The two artists, Deidara in particular, imagined such a horrible scene, their blood veins and muscles being controlled, and their bodies being controlled like a sick puppet, and then being ripped apart from the inside out.

After a second, a small smile returned to Zhin's face. "On the bright side," he continued, "it's incredibly difficult to master. It takes knowledge of the human body, and precise and experienced Waterbending capabilities. there's hardly anyone at all who has even heard of the technique, and only two known people who have shown capable of it.

"One is the technique's inventor, Hama, a wicked woman from the Southern Water Tribe who died in prison two years ago. The second is her student, Katara, another girl from the Southern Water Tribe who now is Avatar's Aang's wife, and she hates the technique, and never uses it." His smiling face returning, he turned back to the match.

Deidara and Sasori's eyes widened at the mention of Aang. So, he was married to a girl from the Southern Water Tribe, and a powerful one at that if she mastered bloodbending.

After another minute of watching the round, which the categators seemed to be winning, Sasori nudged Zhin again.

"What do you know about Airbending?" He asked. "Aang is the last Airbender, right? So I don't think we'll see any of that kind of action here."

"Ah, yes." Zhin nodded. He turned back to Sasori, though not with the same cheerful expression as before. "Airbending is the element of freedom. The airbenders detached themselves to worldly concerns and interests, and found peace and freedom, which became the key to solve their problems in life, as well as the key to find the centered, unflustered mind suitable for airbending.

Because air is everywhere you look, aside from underwater and gas-filled places, an airbender can find a source of energy everywhere. The air nomads had are said to have had hundreds of uses for airbending aside from fighting. They were not a very violent people anyway, and when fighting, used airbending mainly for defense, and never used any dangerous or fatal attacks."

"So, I'm guessing there aren't any more advanced forms of airbending? -Hmph?" Asked Deidara.

"Nope."

"Well, that's certainly answered some of our questions about bending," Sasori said. "Thanks for your help."

"Of course. I'm glad I was able to help you. It's always nice to have an intelligent discussion about the art of- Look out!" He suddenly leapt up from his seat down a few spaces.

Sasori turned to the stage to see what had frightened him: A large boulder, as big as a large man, had been launched and was flying toward their spot.

"Woah!" Deidara scooted down a few spaces, but Sasori held his ground. An indifferent look on his face, he simply raised his right arm, and summoned chakra through it, as though ready to stop the rock with his bare hand.

Intense, heated flames shot out through the pipe in his arm as he used his flamethrower ability. The flames struck the rock, equalling the force it was thrown with, stopping it in midair. The rock started to crack, and was propelled back as it plummeted down into the moat.

Surprised by the sudden action Sasori took, all of the people in the bleachers above him looked down and started whispering and gossiping. Sasori looked back at their shocked faces. He looked to Zhin, who also had such a look. He suddenly realized in horror he may have been about to blow their cover.

"Um, Go Bandits?" He shouted with a raised arm. There was clearly uncertainty in his voice. That was the first thing he could think of to say.

But everyone seemed to forget about the him, getting back to enjoying the game. They must have remembered that it was normal for people to conjure fire in these lands, and thought Sasori was a firebender.

"So, you ARE a firebender!" Zhin gasped. "How can you be a firebender and not know a thing about bending? How is that possible?"

Sasori was suddenly stuck with fear again. After a split-second of thinking, he tried to come up with another lie to tell Zhin.

"Um, well, you see... I never really knew I could do that! I-I just got kind of scared, and I guess I my body just _knew_ what to do."

"How does a man not know he's a firebender until he's in his twenties?" Zhin gave a really confused look. He clearly was not buying the lie that easily.

"Well, umm... Well, you see we live in a very quiet town, and nothing really exciting happens. Nothing ever really came up that would say we needed firebending, so I guess my body never used it until now."

Zhin stared and blinked for a second. He opened his mouth to ask another question before-

"Woah! Did you guys see that?" Deidara cheered. "He's riding that wave life he's surfing! Huh!"

Sasori and Zhin turned back to the arena. Indeed, one of the Catgators had raised a wave of water from the moat, and was riding. It. It moved like a giant serpent, and crashed down on one of the bandits, sending him sprawling until he almost slipped off the edge into the ravin before he cemented his feet to the ground with earthbending.

Zhin seemed to forget about Sasori for a moment and turned back to enjoy the match. Sasori let out a brief sigh of relief. It was hard to believe Deidara just saved his ass. Zhin had almost suspected them and may have blown their cover.

* * *

><p>About half an hour later, the Bandits won the match. Zhin accompanied the artists out of the arena.<p>

"Thanks for all the info, Zhin. Hmph," Deidara said when they were out and they could hear each other over the dispersed crowd. "It really helped us out."

"Anytime, Deidara," Zhin smiled back. "I always enjoy discussing bending with others and sharing my knowledge."

"I guess we'll be on our way now," Sasori added. "We still have quite a bit of research to do."

"One more thing you might want to know..." Zhin said quickly. "There's an earthbending academy near the town square. It use to be run my Master Yu, but then he disappeared. And do you remember how I was talking about Toph Bei Fong? The girl who invented metalbending? Well she was once Master Yu's student, and now she owns his academy."

"Who's Toph Bei Fong?" Sasori asked, an eyebrow raised.

"You don't know about bending _or_ Toph Bei Fong? Wow! Your village must _really_ be isolated! Toph was Avatar Aang's earthbending master. She traveled all over the world with him for the second half of his journey in the last year of the war. She's an earthbending protege, one of the greatest earthbenders in the world! You could try to go over to the academy and ask her a few things about bending for your project. She can help for sure. I would know because I interviewed her one time."

"Wow!" Deidara exclaimed. "Not only did she invent metalbending, but she's the greatest earthbender in the world? AND trained Avatar Aang? That's incredible! Alright. Sounds like a good idea."

"Well then, I'm off to lunch." Zhin straightened out his collar and turned. "Good luck with your project, guys."

"Thanks." Sasori smiled as Zhin walked away. "Good luck with your novel." And with that, Sasori and Deidara turned and started heading off back into town, eager to meet Toph.

"Well, he sure was helpful." Said Deidara. "How lucky for us that we keep running into such nice people around here."

"I'm sure it wasn't like this during the war," Sasori muttered.

* * *

><p>It did not take long for the artists to find the earthbending academy. It was a wide, roofless dojo with an arc entrance. Above the ark was a sign that read across <em>Earthbending Academy<em>. A few words have been painted over. Sasori guessed that the sign use to say _Master Yu's Earthbending Academy_, but when Toph took over, his name was painted out.

They stood at the door, and looked out. The training ground was a messy, rocky landscape, with a few tiles broken here and there. Clearly the place use to be a pristine, orderly dojo, but now seemed as though it were devastated by an earthquake.

Around the grounds were at least fifteen pairs of students sparing together, throwing punches at each other, kicks, but no earthbending to the artists' surprise. They must have been practicing the movements before actually working with rocks, or perhaps getting their bodies and attitudes in shape for the task.

What also surprised them was that there were two or three adults in the place. The could understand that many adolescents were there to learn, but even adults came to learn from Toph? That was a sign of how good of a bender she must have been.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" The artists turned to face a tall, muscular-looking, bald man dressed in green informal business attire. He had a pen and some kind of notebook in one hand.

"Yes, we'd like to speak with Miss Bei Fong if she can," Sasori answered.

"Miss Toph is in the middle of a lesson right now, as you can see." The man, who must have been the dojo's clerk or manager, gestured the grounds as the students continued sparring. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait until it is over."

"When will she be done?" Deidara asked.

"I would say about another ten to fifteen minutes."

"Alright! Let's get ready to cool down, then we'll call it a day!" Shouted a woman's voice.

The three men looked over at the group again to find the source. Standing at the head of the trainees was a young, strong-looking woman with raven-black hair. She had her arms crossed and was glaring over the trainees with an unamused look. This must have been Toph.

"There, you see," the clerk continued. "They're almost done."

* * *

><p>Toph, leading the group's after-workout stretches, was less than impressed. Some of these students had shown even less potential than Aang did, though once she thought of it logically, Aang <em>was<em> the Avatar, not a normal, every-day beginner earthbender like most of these people were. Perhaps her expectations have been raised too high.

Still, she _had_ had to deal with other earthbenders in her career that had shown far more skill, experience and potential. She was proud of those students, but people like today, the ones that were just wimpy and delicate, annoyed the crap out of her.

That was why she hated working here. That was why she could not wait to pass on this academy to Master Yan again so she could go back to traveling the world, find students with more potential, and having that fun, free, adventurous life that she had come to love while out with Aang.

After the leg stretches, she took one last breath, listened to the other trainees do the same, and stretched up towards the sky before exhaling. "Alright! Dismissed!" She barked.

And with that, everyone turned and left out the arc door. Seemed like one of those days where none of her students wanted to speak with her. Thank goodness for that!

"Toph," Xam's voice called out. "You have some visitors."

"Alright." She called over as she started walking towards the entrance, passed all the rocks and cracks on the grounds.

She took a breath to calm down. The lesson was over, and these were new people she was about to meet. They probably wanted to hear about Aang, or about her adventures during the war, the secret to her success in earthbending, or asking for a private lesson. That was what most visitors of the academy wanted.

She felt the vibrations as one of them stepped on to the ground. And then, she felt something weird. A piece of wood seemed to step onto the grounds, and followed the first man towards her. It gave off no vibrations like a human would, or even like those of a rock. What was it? Already she did not like these guests. There was definitely something fishy about them.

"Hello, Miss Bei Fong?" Said the one with the pulse.

"Please, call me Toph," She answered. "No need to be formal around here."

"Okay, 'Toph'."

"So what do you want?"

The hint annoyance in her voice took the pulse guy aback a minute. And then the wooden man started to speak to her shock.

"We were hoping you could tell us a few things about Avatar Aang and earthbending. We hear you're an expert on both." The calm, steely tone in his voice set her off even more.

She knew it! More interviewers who wanted to know about Aang and earthbending. But she knew by now to be careful about giving out such important information. So many bad people who wanted to try and get to Aang had come to her. But no worries. She knew how to deal with punks like that by this point.

"Why do you want to know about them?" She asked.

"Oh, it's just for a little... project we have going on, -un," replied the pulse guy. "We're... writing a novel."

His heart-rate spiked. He was lying.

"You're lying! I can tell."

"What? No! It's the truth! I'm telling you." His pulse quickened again.

"How do you know we're lying?" Asked the wooden guy.

"Get out of my dojo! Now!" She stomped her foot on the ground, and before they could move, the earth under their feet launched them up into the air.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!" The artists screamed in unison as they plummeted and smashed into the hard ground. Sasori landed on his face while Deidara landed on his ass.

"Oh, by the way," Toph called out to them, "in case you were thinking of going after him, Aang could kick both your butts any day of the week!" And with that, she stomped and did another punch, and a wall of earth rose and covered the entrance to the dojo.

The artists got to their feet and dusted themselves off. Deidara rubbed his bruised ass for a second.

"Why you-" He hissed. He reached down into his bag for his clay birds before he felt Sasori grip his shoulder.

"No!" His partner snapped. "Calm yourself. We need to lay low, remember?" His grip tightened.

Deidara looked into Sasori's calm, composed eyes. The eyes that beckoned his to be the same, that said "You know I'm right." He took a deep breath, and calmed down.

"Okay. I'm calm." Sasori released his shoulder. "How did she do it though? How did she know we were lying? I sounded convincing, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did. No idea how she saw though us."

"Funny thing about that choice of words: She couldn't _see_ us at all! She's blind! Did you see her eyes? Huh?"

"Yeah. I saw. Yet she seemed so capable of seeing us. She's a mystery this girl."

"Could it be possible she has... the Hyuuga clan's Byakugan?"

"I highly doubt that."

"Hmph. So now how are we going to get the information she knows about Aang without getting violent with her?"

Sasori put a finger to his chin and thought for a moment. After a second, his face lit up and he spoke up again. "Well, how about her students? Surely they will be more cooperative than her. I'm sure _they_ know a thing or two."

Deidara shrugged. "A good idea as any I guess."

"I think I remember a few of their faces. Let's go see if we can find one of them. I have an idea for what we can do."

* * *

><p>Junji slurped up the last few noodles in his ramen bowl before paying and leaving the stand. He was tired. Toph had been merciless on them that day. First she had them run a lap from one side of the city back to the dojo for warm-up, and then they did push-ups with rocks on their backs, then jumping-jacks and sit-ups.<p>

Then they had to withstand her throwing rocks at them without dodging. This was meant to teach them to stand their ground, which was the right attitude for an earthbender. And then they topped it off with sparring Fung. All before lunch! He was never so happy for the cool down.

And then he remembered he had a math test the next day for school, and he had barely studied. He rubbed his forehead. He was screwed.

He kept walking ahead through the streets, when he noticed behind him a tall figure in a black hooded cloak. He noticed that the figure seemed to be going in the same direction he was going.

He tried to ignore it and just kept walking. The figure stayed on his tail, a few yards away, and slowly coming closer.

Eventually, when there were few people around, he turned to face the figure.

"Why are you following me?" He asked.

The figure, just a few feet away, did not answer. Junji tried to look him in the face under the hood. His face freaked him out. It was a long, cylinder-shaped head, with a big creepy smile and three wide eyes. What was scariest about him though was how lifeless and unmoving the face was.

Junji took a step back from the figure before it reached out and pulled back its robes, revealing an open barrel-shaped cage, and grabbed him.

* * *

><p>Sasori slipped the needle into the boy's limp wrist, and pushed some of the poison in. After he captured the boy and knocked him unconscious with his Black Ant puppet, he and Deidara had chained him to the chair he was in.<p>

They were safe in this place. They had found an cellar in an old building for the interrogation to take place. Deidara had used his clay to block all the windows and doors so that nobody would hear him scream from outside. The only light in the dark, empty room was a candle they had lit.

After a few minutes, the boy groaned and slowly raised his head.

"Huh? What? Where am I?... Ow!"

His whole body convulsed and he moaned in pain. Deidara and Sasori both knew it was the poison taking its hold on him.

Just then, he looked up and took notice of the two men standing before him. "Who are you? What's happening to me? Help me!"

Sasori smiled. _Wow, this boy is pitiful. This is going to be easier than I thought. _

"I've injected you with very rare and powerful poison," Sasori whispered. "It will kill you in five minutes from now." He held up a small needle of a blue serum in front of the boy. "So if you want the antidote, you'll do everything we say."

The boy started panting and struggled against his chains. "No! Please! Don't hurt me! I'll do whatever you say! I'll cooperate!"

"You're damn right you'll cooperate!" Deidara hissed. "Now tell us everything you know about Toph Bei Fong!"

The boy paused for a second, clearly surprised that that's what these men wanted to discuss.

"What? Toph?"

"Yeah. Toph. You're earthbending instructor. -Un."

"What- What do you wanna know about her?"

"She seems to be able to tell when people are lying to her," Sasori interjected. "How can she do that?"

"Okay, okay," the boy took a breath before speaking. "You know how she's blind? Well, she was born blind, so she eventually learned to 'see' by sensing vibrations in the earth through her feet."

"Hm, now that you mentioned it, she _wasn't_ wearing shoes back at the dojo, was she?" Deidara remarked.

"She learned it from badgermoles, who are also blind and 'see' with earthbending. This ability's been dubbed 'seismic sense'. Gah! Ow!"

"So, she learned right from the first earthbenders," Sasori stated. "Impressive. So does she spend all of her time around here in this village running the academy now?"

"Okay look, I don't know Toph that well!" The boy snapped. "It's not like we're buddies or anything!"

"I'd say the poison needs about three more minutes," Sasori retorted. "What do you think Deidara?"

His partner nodded.

"Alright! Alright! She only comes to Gaoling for about three months each year. During that time, she lives with her parents on the Bei Fong estate, and runs the earthbending academy. When she's not around, she leaves the academy in the hands of Master Yan, Master Yu's colleague, and goes traveling about the Earth Kingdom.

"I don't know exactly where she goes. She just travels the whole kingdom, sometimes she's been known to visit the Fire Nation and the Water Tribes. I hear she's been taking her business on the road and teaching earthbenders her awesome techniques, including seismic sense and metalbending."

"Fascinating," Sasori remarked. "Um, how close is she to Avatar Aang?"

"Oh, they're really close. He comes in sometimes to see her. He's come up to a few lessons and taught us some things."

"Exactly what did she do during the last year of the war that she spent with Aang?"

"Well, see... for most of her life, until she was twelve- Gah! Shit! That hurts!... until she was twelve, her parents tried to keep her safe and out of the war. She came in when Aang found her and got her to teach him earthbending. For most of that spring, they traveled around the Earth Kingdom, her teaching him along the way, until they got with the Kingdom's army and the Water Tribes, and launched an assault on the Fire Nation. So basically, she's been on the front lines, and one of Aang's most powerful allies as well as one of his best friends.

"There. Is that all you wanted to hear? Did I tell you enough?" He was sweating and breathing heavily now.

Sasori knew he had less than a minute before the poison killed him. He walked up the him and held his wrist. He aimed the antidote needle at the vein.

"Nobody is going to know about this," He hissed.

"I won't tell anyone! I swear!"

"You better not!" He stabbed the needle into Junji's wrist, and slid the antidote in. Junji gasped from the rush as the serum filled his body, saving his life. Junji also felt sleepier, felt his eyes were heavy. The last words he heard before blacking out were "If you do, we'll come and find you!"

* * *

><p>After leaving Junji asleep on a bench outside, the artists continued to walk about the city. They passed by a sundial on the street which told them that it was two hours passed midday.<p>

"Well, I'd say we're making progress on our research Sasori, hm," Deidara said at one point.

"Yeah, it seems so," his read-headed partner replied. "It's a shame that that boy didn't know much about Toph and Aang's adventures during the war. I'm sure we'd learn more about Aang if we were told his story."

"Well then, that's our next goal."

"So where would we go to learn about something like that besides the library?"

"I don't even know if the libraries will have it. I mean his story is like four years old now. Still kind of too soon for a good book to be written about him, don't you think?"

"Well, four years is a pretty long time. I bet _someone_ has written a detailed book about Aang's story by now."

Deidara tried to think of something else to say, but then something caught his eye: A cylindrical poster stand with many different posters and advertisements posted on it.

"Hey, let's have a look over there." He walked over towards the posters and checked them out. Sasori rolled his eyes and followed.

Deidara kind of liked looking at stands like these. Some posters and fliers had interesting drawings on them. Sasori had a slight interest in this also, but he was more annoyed with Deidara side-tracking, for he wanted to get the job done.

One flier was for a new restaurant being built in Gaoling. It had some decent illustrations of the food that would be served there. One was for Probending with illustrations of a firebender fighting a waterbender. But finally, Deidara came across one flier that fascinated him more than the others, mainly because it was larger than the others and had a larger illustration.

It was for a play. The Illustration was of a boy in red clothing in between two more dressed in blue, being glared at above by menacing eyes, one of which was scarred. The title was "The Boy in the Iceberg: Remade". The caption said it was a production being held in Ba Sing Se. Created and directed by "acclaimed playwright" Pu-On Tim, performed by the Ba Sing Se Acting Company.

It said that the play was redone and better than before. It told the story of Avatar Aang better than any play before. Tickets were now on sale in Ba Sing Se, and playing the next night.

"Hey, Sasori, take a look at this!" Deidara pulled the poster from the wall and held it up to his partner.

Sasori took a few seconds to skim it before a smile came to his face. "Hm! Okay! Looks good."

"Yeah! Now we're getting _somewhere_!" Deidara smirked. "A play! Now _this_ is our thing! -Un!"

Sasori reached under his cloak and took out their map of the world. After skimming it, he found Ba Sing Se. He flipped it over to Deidara.

"Okay, so right now we're down here," he pointed to the bottom-right corner of the Earth Kingdom. "Ba Sing Se is up here." He pointed to the upper-right corner of the map.

"Alrighty then!" Deidara handed the map to Sasori who slipped it and the map back under his cloak. "We'll just get out of this town, I'll poof up some birds again, and we'll be on our way."

"No, not this time." Sasori muttered.

"Wait, what? Why not?"

"I'm sick of flying! That's all we've done for the last four days. I need a break from it!"

"But if we don't fly there, we might not make it in time for the show!" Deidara almost whined.

"I know! I just... Look, let's just walk there for the rest of the day! Some nice, calm, quiet, uneventful walking. Just for the rest of the day at least! And then tomorrow we can fly the rest of the way. Fair enough?"

Deidara hesitated for a brief second before answering. "Yeah, sure. I think we can do that. Okay. Hmph."

"Okay, good. Let's get going then." Sasori turned and started walking again. Deidara followed. While he was annoyed by his partner's stubbornness, he was also excited to see this play. He had not seen a play for ages it seemed.

"Our only problem now is finding the right direction out of this place," Sasori chuckled.

* * *

><p><strong>Omake:<strong>

Out in the middle of the woods somewhere in the Land of Water, a Kirigakure chunin was backed up against a tree. He was breathing heavily, his entire body bruised, his clothes torn. But his attacker still would not let up.

"Talk! Damn you!" Deidara spat at him. He grabbed him by the collar of his flak jacket and punched him in the jaw again, smashing his skull against the tree for the unteenth time now. "Where is the Three-Tails?"

"I'll never tell you Akatsuki trash!" The chunin grunted.

Tobi lay down on the grass, his head gazing up at the clear blue sky, counting the clouds, trying to think of what they looked like the most. He listened to his beloved senpai beat their hostage some more. After a few more minutes of shouting, punching and cursing, and after finding a cloud that looked like a pony, he stood up and walked over to him.

"All of this pain could stop if you just tell me where to find the Three-Tails," Deidara hissed. He threw the chunin by the collar at the tree, and he slid down until he was sitting.

"Do whatever you want to me!" He panted. "I'll never rat-out my comrades!" The chunin tried to spit in Deidara's face, but it only went down to just before his feet.

Deidara growled more at him before he felt a tap on the shoulder.

"What do you want, Tobi?" He snapped.

"Hey, Deidara-Senpai, why don't you let _me_ take him on?" Tobi asked in his usual enthusiastic tone.

Deidara glared at his annoying partner. But after a second, he thought he needed a break and some amusement.

"Okay, sure Tobi. Give him your best shot!" Deidara stepped to the side to let Tobi near him.

Tobi crouched down and moved his face in close to the chunin's. Deidara held his breath to see what Tobi would do, trying to hold in his laughter.

Tobi did the last thing Deidara expected him to do. He reached up to his own face, and pulled off his mask. As he did, the chunin's face suddenly had a look of pure horror as it looked at Tobi.

Deidara became just as horrified. Tobi, the most innocent, harmless person he could imagine, was torturing this man just by letting him look upon his face!

After another second, Tobi slipped his mask back on. The chunin's face still looked horrified, which kept Deidara horrified even more. "So, _where_ is the Three-Tailed beast now?" Tobi asked.

"Lurking at the bottom of Lake Michi No, at the borderline of the Water and Fire Lands," The chunin answered in an almost lifeless tone.

"Thank you." Tobi giggled as he stood up and turned back to Deidara. "Alright Deidara. Next stop, Lake Michi No!" He started speedwalking off in the direction the chunin had told him to go.

Deidara stood where he was, still scared speechless. What the hell was behind that mask? At times like these, Deidara was not sure he wanted to know.

**Author's Comments: I'm SOOO sorry It took so long to update. So many things came up. First I was working on another story, and then I got really busy with school, and then when I finally found time, I came down with a bit of writer's block! Then March is always the toughest month of the school year for me, so I had a hard time getting around that. But I finally managed to sit down and get to work on this.**

**In chapter six, I said that Gaoling is a small town. I was WAY off. I looked over that episode again, and that city is huge! Not quite as big as Omashu or Ba Sing Se, but still pretty big.**

**You know, I'm intending for this story to be a segway between _The Last Airbender_ and _The Legend of Korra_. I was hoping to be farther along than I am now before the series debut. I know I'm running out of time now though. I'm trying to get as much in to all my stories as I can.**

**Next chapter, we will check back with Hidan and Kakuzu, maybe get to see Itachi and Kisame for a moment as well.**

**I'll be honest, for some reason, I feel like at times I've been a little slapdash or cheap on this chapter, or like I haven't done as well on this one as I had my previous chapters. I don't know. I think the thing is this chapter is significantly longer than the previous ones, and maybe I was eager to finish and post it. I don't know, maybe I'm just imagining things, or maybe forgotten what my writing is normally like because it's been so long, and this one is still just as good as the previous chapters.**

**So, thanks to all of my supporters, especially those who review, subscribe and favor. I hope you all like this chapter, and I'll see you all next time. **

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	9. Emergency Author's Note Regarding Purge

Have you seen the notice that it turns out sexual content (including lemons) is technically not allowed on this site? I've heard that because of this, there's going to be a purge soon that will deleted all M-rated stories on this site, lemons or no lemons.

That's a real bitch, isn't it? I'm so pissed off! I've been putting a lot of hard work into this story, and just like that it's going to go? Bullsh*t! And I know so many people have been reading and enjoying it!

So, I'm sure that this story is going to get deleted soon. So I wanted to give all my loyal fans a heads-up on what I'm planning. So at first, I was planning on rewriting the chapter with the lemon, and then try to keep the tone down a little on the content from here on in, but I don't think that's going to work. So if this story gets deleted, I'll either try reposting it here again later on, or start an account on a different fanfiction website (like ) and write it there. I don't know yet.

You can either subscribe an author alert to me, or shoot me a PM, and I'll let you know what I plan on doing when I get down to it.

I'm really sorry for the inconvenience, and I hope you'll all bear with me on this. Thanks everyone!


	10. Author's Note: The Fate of this Story

Well, I've decided what I will do about this story. I did take out the lemon in the early chapter, but I've realized that the administrators are purging this site of stories with too much sex AND extreme violence. Even if avoid any more sexual content for the rest of this story, it will get very violent in later chapters, there's just no avoiding it.

So, I turn 18 in August. At that point, I will start an account on [adult fan fiction . net] (One word) and continue this story there. I will continue to post chapters here until that day (unless it gets deleted by the admins) for marketing purposes.

I will also start this over again on [adult fan fiction .net], rather than continue where I left off. And with this story going up on [adult fan fiction .net], not only will I be able to include all the violence I want, but I'll also include all the sexual stuff I wanted to keep!

So, if you're interested in reading more of this story, and seeing how the Akatsuki fare in the rest of their search, head on over to [adult fan fiction .net]. I better warn you though: that site is much harder to navigate than this one.

Thank you all of my loyal fans. See you soon!


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